#because the things they do and tell you and sneak characterization into within the bits that could have used work are still valuable ! | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

mio-parasite · 3 years

Text

❤️ Monsters in Latin America ❤️

Hello very good dear community of monsters lovers how are you? I hope you do well and if not I hope that your day will improve so that everything goes well.

I want to introduce you to some (not all as there are too many) lovely monsters of Latin America, I want to spread a little about my own culture and expand the repertoire of monsters to love, care for... Etc, I hope you like this bit Latin American story any questions you have about these creatures can contact me.

And I want to apologize if my English is very bad

Well without further ado, I introduce you to these lovely monsters from Latin America.

El Athrathrao o Basilisco

It is born in a henhouse, from a small round egg of coarse and rough cascara, of grayish white color, called lloilloy egg or lloe egg, which according to legend is believed to be laid and incubated by a rooster. If this egg is not removed, within a few weeks it will become a basilisco.

In the daytime, the basilisk chilote hides under the house of the owner of the henhouse, and at night he would come out of his hiding place while all the people sleep. At that time he would emit a hypnotic chant similar to cockcrow, which would cause people to stay asleep. After singing, he would go into the rooms to be able to feed himself, absorbing the breath and sucking the saliva of those who sleep. The affected person would lose the desire to eat, so he or she would get thinner and thinner, and his or her face would become pale. With the passage of time, a strong and persistent cough would appear and his breathing becomes more and more difficult, and finally he dies. The same thing happens with every one of the inhabitants of the house.

La Pincoya

She is a mermaid of extraordinary beauty (with a slightly tanned white complexion and blond hair), whose job is to protect the sea, sow it and rescue the castaways.

When the pincoya dances facing the ocean, it is warning that there will be an abundance of fish and shellfish. And when you do it looking toward the coast, there will be shortages.

To be favored by it, one must be content; That is why the fishermen are accompanied by happy friends.

It is also said that if you fish or shellfish a lot in one place, the pincoya gets angry and leaves that area, which then becomes sterile. The pincoya is sometimes accompanied by her husband, the pincoya.

The mermaid lived in a huge cave and used to swim in the lagoon and the puchanquin river. From the rocks, with a whistle, he made emerge from the bottom of the waters a solid trunk of gold, which he climbed to comb his golden hair. Sometimes, during the night, he would sing haunted love songs, which no one could resist.

In addition, many people sought the woman for favors, until she disappeared from the place. It is believed that it was called cuada from the huelde lagoon to bring prosperity and abundance to distant beaches.

Since then, the waters took on the dark color they have today, and although many have tried to imitate the siren's whistle, the golden trunk is still submerged waiting for its owner.

El Muqui / Muki

The muki, or anchancho, is a goblin in the mythology of the central andes in Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia; Which is characterized by being a miner and, as such, its existence is limited to the underground space: the muqui lives inside the mine.

Its name comes from the quechua "murik" (" he who asphyxiates "). However, 'muki' also means' humidity ', so it is said to also appear in places where there is water. From puno to cajamarca, passing through pasco and Arequipa, the descriptions of this creature are always the same: it is of small stature, does not exceed half a meter. Their favorite victims are unbaptized children, whom they hide in FIG and banana trees to make one of them.

Piuchén

Piwicheñ is a Mapuche voice that means "to dry people", this mythological creature is better known as Pihuchén, Piuchén or Piguchen.

It generally has the appearance of a flying snake, emitting high-pitched whistles. But also its changing appearance has something of a human, snake, bird, fish, quadruped, frog and bat. It is usually covered with grass, bushes and twisted cylinders, like hooked horns. It produces a substance so irritating that when it is transmitted through the air or water, it causes skin eruptions very similar to scabies.

It has incredible longevity, its wings grow when it has reached its mature age, in old age it transforms into a bird the size of a rooster or a young turkey, equally bloodthirsty. It has such a powerful force that it can topple large trees and raise gigantic waves that wreck ships.

He is used to living in lakes and rivers, where his presence causes panic, those who have the misfortune to contemplate him will soon die. At other times, he petrifies his victims with his intense gaze, and then sucks their blood.

Trentren Vilu y Caicai Vilu

Trentren vilu (terrestrial snake) and caicai vilu (sea snake) are two colossal and powerful snakes that have the ability to cause earthquakes and volcanic eruptions (trentren) and tsunamis and floods (caicai).

Legend has it that one day caicai awoke from his sleep and, seeing how ungrateful men were to the sea that gave them so much resources, unleashed his fury and used his tail to cause tsunamis and flood the earth as punishment. Trentrain, however, came to the aid of the terrestrial creatures and saved those he could on his back to put in the hills, those he could not save he turned into birds, fish and Marine mammals and drowned in sumpall. Caicai, for his part, did not stop and raised the waters even higher, to which he responded by raising the hills even higher.

Seeing this challenge, caicai attacked trentrum, thus beginning a Titanic battle that lasted for a long time until they finally ran out of strength.

By the end of the battle, the geography had changed, resulting in the numerous islands and canals of southern Chile.

Exhausted and defeated, caicai returned to sleep, leaving millalobo as ruler of the seas. For his part, trentrum also went to sleep.

However, with the passage of time, the men became ungrateful again, also causing the displeasure of trentin, who from time to time moves in his sleep causing earthquakes and eruptions, while caicai by moving his tail causes tsunamis.

Yaguareté-Abá

Tiger man or leopard-man, this being is a character known in northeastern Argentina and the great chaco, this arises from the great adoration of a sorcerer towards these animals and is based on the metamorphosis from human to beast, or the reverse.

The transformation of the sorcerer begins with the use of a jaguar leather and a sauma with hen's feathers. And that because of these they were given the power to shed their skins and transform into a creature half jaguar and half human. Later, they go hunting and after eating their prey they return to their human form performing the same procedure.

He is extremely aggressive and only eats human flesh, from mule or cow, he liked to loot ranches and he liked to force young women to clean it. The only way to escape from his escape is to manage to remove his hide and spit in his face because they are blind and vulnerable to attack, after death they return to their human form. This must be accompanied by bullets or machetes that are blessed but this is not all - you must behead him after killing him to make sure he does not come back to life.

La Fiura

She has the appearance of a disgusting woman, with large breasts and tiny stature (40 to 50 cm) and long black hair. Her face has hideous features, with sparkling eyes that are almost hidden behind her huge nose. Her limbs are thin and hooked, and she has the ability to lengthen and twist them in all directions by nervously moving the misshapen fingers of her huge hands. She wears red clothes, and uses to adopt strange postures and hideous grimaces with her face.

It is said that he wanders in the woods and sneaks through the bushes, in search of the fruit of the thorny chauras, which he eats gluttonously; and people can tell that the Fiura has passed through a place by observing the depositions it leaves on the protruding roots of large trees. It is also said that taking great care, it can be observed when she carefully combs her hair with a highly polished crystal or silver comb that shines in the sun's rays, while bathing in small lakes. After bathing, she sits on the moss, and remains naked for hours or goes to dance on the scraps. It is characterized by possessing superhuman strength and by the ability to make use of the stench of its breath to twist or break the limbs of animals or people who observe it; her power being such that she can have her effects at a distance.

Millalobo

The millalobo (golden Wolf) is a creature resembling a newt, with the upper part of a man and the lower part of a sea Wolf. The millalobo was born from the union between a woman and a sea Wolf which saved her from drowning during the mythical battle between trentrain vilu and caicai vilu.

Millalobo is the most powerful being of the seas after caicai, who chose him to rule the seas on his behalf.

According to chilota legend it is said that upon seeing him, caicai decided that he was a creature of his liking and chose him to delegate his power and rest after his battle with trentrain.

Millalobo lives on the seabed and rules with his family, his wife huenchula and their three children; The pincoya, the pincoy, and the mermaid chilota. Various mythological sea creatures are under his command and help him in his tasks, which range from planting and caring for the development of shellfish and fish, to managing the Marine climate; In addition to guiding and caring for the dead produced by the sea.

Millalobo is said to be the creator of the caleuche and the evil creatures of the seas also pay him respect.

#exophilia #monster #monster boyfriend #monster girlfriend #monster lover #monster fucker

263 notes · View notes

scorpionyx9621 · 3 years

Note

While the art is left to be desired (i'm hope i use this ohrase right, my english is awful). I suprised that i found future state!Jason to be more enjoyable than Urban Legend one. Like he's way more capable there and [spoiler alert] also Bruce depend on him and still call him son? So you can have a bad ass Jason and good son jason at the same time.

So I need to apologize because this turned into a rant about Jason's characterization as whole and MAN is it long-winded and I'm sorry.

I have to agree. I really like the characterization Future State/Dark Detective is going for with Jason.

Jason is still the typical Jason we've grown to expect. Cold, cynical, snarky, willing to cross the dark red line and kill if need be, but he's still shown to have emotions. When he's betraying the family it's vocalized by Jason that he's upset about the situation. He doesn't want to, but he must for the mission Bruce put him under.

Truth be told, I'm not fully caught up on Future State/Dark Detective. I've kind of been reading spoilers and just getting the general gist in the periphery from people like you on Tumblr. I've been more focused on Urban Legends, which, while I will say I still don't hate the story, hell we still have two issues left of Cheer, and I by no means think Chip Zdarsky is a bad writer by any means. His characterization of Jason irks me.

*God I was so on the fence about Eddy Barrow's take on Jason until Issue #3. That right there? THAT. That's a handsome ass man Maurry*

ANYWAYS: I'm irked by Zdarsky's take on Jason just because of how hot headed and brash Jason is. Now don't get me wrong, every main writer for Jason has taken a bit of a different spin and while the big characters who have written Jason (Judd Winnick, Scott Lobdell, Tony Daniel) and while Zdarsky seems to be what I'm hoping to be a bit of a medication of Jason & Bruce's relationship. He's doing it at the expendature of Jason's characterization of being a damn near criminal mastermind.

If we focus on Winnick and Daniel's interpretation of Jason (Winnick wrote the original Under the Hood & Lost Days. Daniels wrote Battle for the Cowl) as well as all Pre-New 52 versions of Jason. Jason is a monster. Like genuinely a horrible human being. He still fights for right moral side (he kills mostly child abusers/drug traffickers and the likes) but this Jason is genuinely unhinged and while smart, he's absolutely monster. Hell, in Battle for the Cowl after hearing Bruce's final words, he has a villainous breakdown. Dresses as batman, and starts killing people. Judd Winnick himself said he sees Jason as a 'Psychopath' and there are a lot of very vocal people who say Winnick's original interpretation of Jason as a violent, misanthropic villain is the superior version and that Jason should return to this.

*I love to point out that I made a post on my alt account questioning Jason's age in this issue. Turns out he's Like SEVENTEEN. I get why they draw him older and more mature because of his darker/more villainous tendencies. But there's something kind of True Crime Podcast host fascination I have with this greasy, crusty, 17 year old who just casually kills 30 mobsters in horrific gun violence and calls it a day.*

Then we have the New 52. And in comes Red Hood & The Outlaws + the eventual Red Hood: Outlaw series. Piloted by the one Scott Lobdell. Now I know a lot of people dislike Lobdell for his takes on certain characters, his all-over-the-place writing style. (Let's not forget his allegations of SA and the fact that he openly admits that he wrote Jason as a self-insert for a 'bad guy seeking redemption') this was my first comic experience with Jason and to be honest, I can't bring myself to hate it. Sure there's some parts that literally show how much of a dumpster fire Lobdell's writing can become, but for the most part I genuinely liked the characterization of Jason that Lobdell gives. Jason may be a bit more reactionary and just kind of making shit up as he goes along, but he's far from dumb. The intro to the series has Jason sneaking into a terrorist run nuclear sub and killing everyone inside.

Again: Lobdell's writing is all of the place. But I do like that his take on Jason is a bit more subdued. I know in the New 52 they wanted to make Jason an Anti-Hero. Someone who very much still driven by emotion and revenge. But he's definetly more relaxed and even has a lot of fun. Intelligence wise he has is moments, but it does emphasize that while he may be the best read Robin, he does have a tendency to leap before he looks. Also all the art for RHATO with the exception of a few series were TOP TIER. I understand why they hired artists like Kenneth Rocafort and Dexter Soy to rehabilitate his image. I mean, come on.

Now if we're talking about Jason's intelligence, I'd be absolutely remiss if I didn't discuss Red Hood: Outlaw and the Price of Gotham Arc. Specifically this exchange between Bruce & Jason. To me, this is the single best part of Lobdell's run and shows Jason's true intelligence.

To give a rundown: After Bruce banished Jason from Gotham after seemingly killing the Penguin. Bruce proceeded to find Jason and literally beat him to within an inch of his life. It took MONTHS for Jason to recover. A lot happens but mostly Jason finds out (from Bruce no less) that Penguin is still alive. Jason hatches a devious plan. He takes over the iceberg lounge, kidnaps and holds Penguin hostage. Publically outs himself as Jason Todd, the dead ward of Bruce Wayne, as alive and well, and the new owner of the Iceberg Lounge.

When Bruce finds out he's clearly pissed and goes to confront Jason because he's banished him from Gotham. But because Jason outed himself as alive and one of Bruce's sons. Batman can do NOTHING. Jason has Bruce by the balls. If Bruce does anything to Jason while he's out and alive as Jason, all Jason has to do is tell the truth. And the whole Batman jig is up in an instant. And Bruce? After these panels? He runs off with his tail between his leg because he can't touch Jason. And all Jason did was capture penguin, and come out as alive. THIS is the Jason that I love. This is the Jason that strikes fear into people's hearts.

I think a lot of the general complaints we see about Jason as a whole is just how inconsistent he is with his writing. Which I agree. It's hard to characterize Jason well when there's been a character like Lobdell who was at the Helm of Jason's character for 10 years and then forced to leave. And I don't really know if DC has any really solid plans for his character and development. There's a lot of hype surrounding the end of Cheer and them saying it'll 'change Red Hood & Batman's relationship forever' as well as with Jason being featured in the new Suicide Squad coming this August, and Jason getting a feature in an issue of Robin. It'll be interesting to see where they take the character. Personally I do want a resumption of Jason. But like Harley Quinn where they're taking their sweet time redeeming her. Jason has done A LOT of awful things and of they wanna make him a hero, I want a few years to pass in terms of monthly issues before we see Jason become a hero again.

*edit: spelling*

#Jason Todd #Bruce Wayne #Batfam #red hood and the outlaws #red hood outlaw #batman urban legends #Batman future state #Red Hood #Red Hood lost days #judd winick #scott lobdell #Battle for the cowl #im sorry this is long #thanks for the ask!

113 notes · View notes

raisans-art · 3 years

Text

What the Fuck Are these Characterizations: The Essay

Full warning: This is only concerning Tommy's stream made today, 4/29/2021. I know Ranboo has streamed after Tommy but I haven't watched that.

On with the essay.

A lot happened.

Tommy tried to kill Dream, Dream actually killed Ghostbur, Wilbur is back (pog). It's a lot. A lot of plot and a lot of emotions. I will preface this with the usual "holy hell these people are pretty damn good actors for having no formal training as far as I'm aware." They get their emotions across very clearly and that's kinda why I'm making this in the first place. The way some of the characters acted in Tommy's 4/29 stream is a bit odd in my opinion.

Now, I will concede that I have not been diligent with the Dream SMP lore. I've been given broad strokes and have seen various clips but I have definitely not been on top of it. I may have missed streams entirely and you all more avid fans may be able to name scenes that I haven't seen that rationalize some of these reactions that I will be criticizing. If you can, please do so! I'd love to start a dialogue over this!

So, how I'm gonna break this all up is to take a look at Tommy, Wilbur, Ranboo, and Awesamdude and how their CCs characterized them during the stream. I'll sing praises where they are due and point out my criticisms where they arise. Then, I will try to surmise some meta as to why I think these characterizations came to be in the first place.

Tommy

Tommy, to me, has the best characterization in this. CC Tommy clearly has a very good sense of what he wants from his character and has been playing into that line of thought from the beginning of this whole debacle.

Tommy is scared, paranoid, and pissed off. Ever since he left the prison he avoids taking damage like the plague, rambles indecisively, is easily sent into a panic, and is hypersensitive to the people around him. He panics when he sees weapons out and one crucial thing that he made clear from the start was that he wants Dream dead.

Straight out of limbo, Tommy concludes that Dream needs to die. From there he plans this whole mission with Ranboo, Tubbo, and Ghostbur to get in and kill Dream. He says that Dream can't keep living with this power at his fingertips, and from before his final death, Tommy clearly wants to be rid of his abuser, adding a personal layer to his plan. Tommy is stubborn and determined since the beginning, sacrificing his life and disks for L'manberg and refusing to believe that his home is gone until the place is blown to bedrock. Of course, he would stick to his plan to a T.

Now, is this a smart decision to sneak into the highest security area in the entire SMP? Fuck no. It's a stupid idea. Even if Tommy hadn't messed up, Sam would've seen Dream die to a floating axe and kept Tommy and Ghostbur in that containment cell. It would've been a one-way ticket, especially given what we see of Sam in this stream.

But this all makes sense for the character CC Tommy is playing. Tommy isn't thinking about how smart of a decision this is and he hardly ever does when he takes action. He shoots from the hip, takes his first instincts, and acts on them.

It's easy to draw a clear line of progression of Tommy as a character from season 1 to this moment in season 3 and past Ghostbur's death. His hyperventilating as he tries to get his plan to work after it failed, Trying to save Ghostbur from what he went through, lashing out at Sam, and yelling at Wilbur. All of this in line with who Tommy is as a character and how events have changed him. This is a good characterization.

Wilbur

Wilbur has changed a lot since we've seen him last, both alive and dead. Since he's been alive, Wilbur has changed his tune from "I want to die" to "hell sucks, mate." What's particularly interesting is that this sentiment that he has from being alive carried for a long time into his limbo, as evidenced by his appearance in the season 2 finale on the bench. He wanted to "stay dead" at that point. Since we've seen him in limbo, he's gone from content in his situation and understanding why he's there and that he's there forever.

Now we have Revivedbur. Revivedbur is ecstatic to be alive again. He goes from numb to embracing feeling again. The fandom once thought that Revivedbur would be annoyed with or hateful towards Dream for bringing him back turned into joy and reverence. This is quite a drastic leap. Bad characterization.

But it isn't.

I have seen one clip from Ranboo's stream on 4/29 and that is Ranboo telling Philza that Wilbur is alive. In this bit, after mentioning that Wilbur has been in limbo for a perceived 13 and a half years, Phil says "13 years is a long time to be away... he almost certainly isn't the same person... people can change quite a lot in a single year, two years, three years, four years, even five years, Ranboo."

Wilbur has been gone for 13 years. He's been in the same place with no change other than Tommy for 13 fucking years. That's 13 years where we heard from him 2 times. We know virtually nothing about what those 13 years were like for him, but from what Wilbur has said, it was torture to him. He was stagnant, stuck in a fucking tube station for 13 years, unable to leave no matter how hard he tried.

We know so little about how his time in limbo changed him because it's such a long span of time with radio silence. I dare say this is fucking great characterization.

Ranboo

This is where I start having some issues, and this is where I have the least amount of context. From what I've seen, Ranboo is little miss angst who forgets things and is constantly on the verge of having a panic attack (hyperbole). From what I have surmised of his character in various contexts, serious and dramatic scenes and domestic ones, Ranboo really cares about the people around him and is scared of himself and his mind.

So why is it that he straight up just sneers at Tommy, saying "the hell did you do?"

I'm really just focusing on this because it just seems really off to me in the context of his character. Ranboo was in on this plan. It's pretty common knowledge that the only person with revive powers is Dream. Ranboo doesn't know everything that happened within the prison, sure, but why is he so quick to assume that Tommy was the root cause? Is it because he's been hanging out with the world's 2nd biggest Tommy hater, Niki (the character for clarification)? I honestly don't know where this jump-in assumption is coming from. Given what I understand of his character, this line and the implications I'm getting are just a bit out of character. Feel free to explain why I'm wrong because I am not in this loop whatsoever.

Awesamdude

Sam is where I have the biggest issue. How does a man go from living on an isolated island in grief over a death he could've prevented if only he had been quicker, to yelling at that same formerly dead person that he was at fault for the death/revival of another person?

Now, one thing that is strengthened by this characterization is Sam's dedication to the rules. He has his strict protocol and he is not going to let that slip up for anything. He wants to keep Dream in prison and never let him out.

But I'm just having a hard time grappling with a man so quick to blame himself last time something like this happened being so quick to place blame on a child he, from what I've seen, had a good relationship with. It feels like I'm missing something here.

Yeah, Tommy broke into the prison, but why is Sam's first thought that Tommy was trying to break dream out? This harsh turn on Tommy just doesn't come across right to me.

Why Did This Happen?

I do think there could be a meta reason as to why these don't land right to me. These two characterizations are centered around Tommy. How people are reacting to Tommy's actions. Tommy and Dream are the head of the prison stuff right now. at least as far as I know. I'm not sure if Wilbur has come back on as a writer yet but last I heard it's still Tommy and Dream handling their shit. With the writers in mind, I wouldn't put it past them to decide to add more conflict with Tommy and other members of the SMP right now. The Egg is a bit busy with other things, Jack is just running the hotel, and the Syndicate doesn't really have any qualms with Tommy on any level that they would act on. It could be the writers trying to add conflict to the prison storyline by generating conflict between Tommy, Ranboo, and Sam with Wilbur being a fuckin wild card.

I don't know mate, I just wanted my thoughts out there and maybe be fucking pounded into the ground by people more knowledgeable than me.

Have a dialogue with me I'd love to debate. (All friendly debate please I don't feel like taking this too seriously it is Minecraft roleplay after all.)

87 notes · View notes

sukirichi · 3 years

Note

hi suki! wanted to tell you this bc i have no one else to talk about it with ><

( you can answer this when the English chapter releases! i was able to read it because my friend bought the WSJ issue)

I was trying to udnerstand Naoy's character, so I was reding everything from CH138-151 again. I'm kinda sad at how people just calls Naoya a Toji fanboy (though true LMAO) and not realizing how Toji really influenced his persona. Like the admiration Naoya held for Toji is so deeply engraved in him that he, who was called a genius sorcerer as a child, looks up to a man who was called a failure. Toji is probably the only man in the clan that he respected, that's why toji's level of strength became his "picture" to follow. And I think a lot of who Naoya has become is because the Zen'ins literally groomed the decency out of him. Still, though groomed to be everything he is, he himself chose not to change anything about it.

(wait but also?? little naoya looks cute like he would guide old ladies on the ped xing so what the fuck happened after that)

I guess one major reason why he does not respect anyone else in the clan (besides his superiority complex) is because of the Zen'in's concept of what is marked as strong. Like, the way they see and treated him as if he's the best sorcerer in the making, yet failing to see Toji's powers and rejecting him fully. It's something similar to Mai when she said "Maki has talent that I don't. And the clan rejected that; that talent that I lacked", except Naoya is raised to be a confident (arrogant?) child, thus he takes it as a challenge instead and works to achieve it.

So, when Maki reached the level of Toji, I think his reaction wasn't simply stemmed on his "fanboy" antics, but his desperation of being part of that level of strength. I think he's more irritated in the fact that Maki, someone who he does not see anywhere near as strong as he is (though he does say Maki is strong in chapter 138), reached a level of strength that he hasn't; that he is trying hard to achieve. It's also the same with having your favorite superhero getting defeated. And Naoya's in denial that there is someone else who could be the same as Toji.

I like how he's an antagonist that was not build under the foundation of a sob backstory (though it was a v small sneak peak of his background and was mainly centered with his admiration for toji, plus I think people forget that Naoya is an antagonist), how he acknowledges that he has not reached that level of strength. Of course, I'm angsty about his misogynistic ideals. I get that he's from a very traditionalist clan so... yeah. I mean, no child is born evil. Children learn from those around them (I've seen many people say he's trash since he was a kid when he said that "i wonder what miserable face he has", but like he's a kid, he doesn't know what he's saying AHSJFJWJQ8QR he was either taught that or he just learned it from others. Funnily enough, he does say toji has a pretty face now LMAO). Maybe it stems from something else, maybe it didn't.

I'm not saying him trying to kill Megumi is forgotten (Though, the Jujutsu Society is a place where teens get executed for the simple fact that they are too strong, so im not surprised. Just like Noritoshi said, age does not matter in Jujutsu Society). I see now why he was really pissed about Megumi being the head, since Naoya has been promised the position since he was young, only to loose of a 15 year old who is the son of the man he admires :')) However, still, none of it excuses the shit he did. He still has a shitty personality, but it's nice to know a bit of a background.

Anyway, that's all for now. My English is bad so that might be all over the place •`,`• That's just my take on it so I could be wrong or maybe seeing him wrong since we still don't know much abt him. I'm always scared to talk about naoya because the last time i did (on twt) i got a backlash of hate (ppl really do get hate just from admiring someone's characterization). Your blog is like a safe haven for naoya stans, so i thank you for that hehe.

Have a nice day suki!! kisses~

(also this is a PSPSPSPS to a naoya childhood friends au fic pls 👁👁)

bestie omg I am so sorry, I found this deep in my inbox and I am *shakes* and yes yes let’s talk about naoya, I would be more than glad to and I’m sorry I didn’t see this any sooner!! more rants and simping under the cut

I'm kinda sad at how people just calls Naoya a Toji fanboy (though true LMAO) and not realizing how Toji really influenced his persona. Like the admiration Naoya held for Toji is so deeply engraved in him that he, who was called a genius sorcerer as a child, looks up to a man who was called a failure. Toji is probably the only man in the clan that he respected, that's why toji's level of strength became his "picture" to follow. And I think a lot of who Naoya has become is because the Zen'ins literally groomed the decency out of him. Still, though groomed to be everything he is, he himself chose not to change anything about it.

omg for this…I’m actually like…like I love the detail that naoya admires toji? as we can see from the panel of little naoya, it’s like people have already planted in his head that no cursed energy = loser, yet he ended up admiring him and I am,,,my heart is just soft! exactly! just think of naoya born as a genius sorcerer yet his admiration for toji, who is painted as the clan’s failure, helped shape him into who he is! idk but I just really love the fact that naoya, who is like born with the pressure and role of being clan leader, somewhat strays from tradition and ends up finding strength into toji and even strives to follow him or “stand by him” someday. for me, it just shows that perhaps naoya isn’t really half as bad as he should be in an honest sense, meaning that he’s evil or morally corrupt because he was born that way or because he chose to be that way. I do agree that perhaps he is the way he is now because he’s groomed to be like that, but of course, I’m not going to disregard the fact that somewhere along the way, Naoya could’ve matured to choose himself to not embody the misogynistic tradition of the zen’in clan.

This could just be me, but my interpretation of it is that Naoya seems more like the perfect product or embodiment of how the clan shaped him to be, blinded him with false morals and the patriarchy presiding into them. Rather than Naoya being just “a misogynistic arrogant man” in my perspective and my opinion, I see him more into the bigger picture of his toxic upbringing to begin with. Like, no child is born evil unless there’s like a predetermined curse deciding their fate for them, so its partly the Zen’in clan’s fault he’s that way. But Gege showing that Naoya admiring someone the Zen’in clan disregarded, it shows that he is capable of being himself without the clause of his clan enforcing things to him once again, like the whole “he’s gonna be the future clan leader” thing, though that is still heavily embedded within him.

(wait but also?? little naoya looks cute like he would guide old ladies on the ped xing so what the fuck happened after that)

OMGGGG PLEASE THAT’S SO CUTE, HE LOOKED SO INNOCENT AND ADORABLE BUT EVEN AS A CHILD HE WAS ALREADY CALLING PEOPLE A LOSER LIKE EYE

I guess one major reason why he does not respect anyone else in the clan (besides his superiority complex) is because of the Zen'in's concept of what is marked as strong. Like, the way they see and treated him as if he's the best sorcerer in the making, yet failing to see Toji's powers and rejecting him fully. It's something similar to Mai when she said "Maki has talent that I don't. And the clan rejected that; that talent that I lacked",except Naoya is raised to be a confident (arrogant?) child, thus he takes it as a challenge instead and works to achieve it.

Anon, is it just me or like…was his superiority complex also enforced on him by the Zen’in clan as well? Again this could just be me going all psychologist mode on Naoya but the nature of superiority complex is quite interesting, you know! As a psych student, I perfectly understand that superiority complex either stems from several things like a) wanting to live up to one’s or others expectations, b) masking it with a deep stem of insecurity, or c) it’s a coping mechanism. See, I could go on and on about but then I’d have to link all my past studies lmao so let’s just put it on layman’s terms that my interpretation of Naoya’s superiority complex is once again, influenced by the clan. Imagine being a kid born into a clan where people remind you again and again that you’re the future leader, that you would be the one to guide them or protect them or discuss the clan’s future and status once you grow, and you’re quite groomed for it.

For such pressure to be put on a child’s shoulders, it kind of strips off his youth and instead of him enjoying his youth, I can imagine that it took a toll on little Naoya, and the reason he grew his superiority complex is his way to cope and reach the standards and expectations that is given to him. Of course, he’s a kid, he might start to wonder, “Can I even do all of that?” but seeing as the Zen’in clan highly measures strength and growth based on abilities, cursed energy, and overall just to conform into the image they’ve held for years, it’s quite obvious that Naoya can’t exactly voice out his worries over this, so instead, he masks it with a superiority complex that absolutely boosts him to a higher level, thus giving him the confidence he needed to carry out his tasks and the reassurance that, “Yes, I am worthy and I will be the clan leader.” As for your theory that he takes it as a challenge, I can see where you’re coming from! I think Naoya is the type of person who definitely likes to challenge himself, but one of the reasons I love his character so much is because he’s not completely a brainless “head on straight to war” type of person too.

He knows his limits and knows which side he should be in, as showed when Yuuta came and mans surrendered easily. Idk why but to me, Naoya, who is such an arrogant confident man who has high trust in abilities, but at the same time can admit when someone is stronger than him (like him admiring Toji and Gojo) just makes him more human and a little more beautifully flawed. Like, he’s not perfect and he’s most definitely an irritating character, but the way he was written is just *chef’s kiss*

Yes, ah I really do love this theory that he’s more irritated because in his mind, he’s like, “I’m a genius sorcerer! I was meant to be clan leader! This is my rightful spot to be a strong one, so how come Maki, who is a woman, with no zero cursed energy has reached the level of the person I looked up most to?” again, Naoya didn’t say that and those are just my opinions and brainrot so don’t come at me for it uwu, but yeah I do think that he’s very aggravated that he didn’t react that level first. Because I guess you could say, he’s probably alluding that Maki reaching Toji’s strength = them being equals, and ofc Naoya wanted to be the one standing beside them. It probably hit his superiority complex that he wasn’t the one in Maki’s spot especially when he tried so hard to achieve it, and considering the gifts he was given (same cursed technique as his dad and him having cursed energy) it threw him off.

Yeah, Naoya is most likely in denial and becomes aggressive over it, although I don’t really mean physically aggressive because Naoya is actually quite calm and ‘composed.’ If ever he did go on a rampage, he does it in such a suave, calculated manner with this silent confidence that he will win. It kind of makes you root for him because he even fools the audience (by audience I mean ME) that he’s going to OWN that fight but whoop, he got his ass kicked. Plus ten points for confidence and a bonus thousand points for being sexy though!!! Yeah, omg he’s probably in disbelief that a woman of all people could be like the person he admired most.

OMG YESSSS ANON YES YES YES *slams down simping button angrily* That’s what I like about him too! Even though Naoya is cocky and wayyyy too arrogant for his own good, I also like that he acknowledges he’s not quite in a level he wants to be in yet. And hah, his backstory, it wasn’t totally sob because it’s obvious he was much too doted on, but I still hate how they made him like that. True, if he’s still carrying the same misogynistic ideals as he is now in an age where he has the mental capacity to improve and be different, then the belief has become more of a choice than something engraved into him, which I am really disappointed and not really into because of course, he’d be much better if he wasn’t like that in the first place. LOLOLOLOL yes yes he’s a kid, it sure as hell doesn’t excuse the way he is now but like just think !!

if a kid was spouting out such mean words and CLEARLY no one is correcting him, who really is the problem here? A child has a harder time deciphering what is right and wrong by himself without proper guidance. And he didn’t have proper guidance, they really just let him be like that and it’s because the clan!! sucks !! ass !! YEAH he probably called toji with a miserable face because he hasn’t seen him before but after seeing the iconic dilf, Naoya gone be like, “anyways, I lied, moving on—”

I'm not saying him trying to kill Megumi is forgotten (Though, the Jujutsu Society isa place where teens get executed for the simple fact that they are too strong, so im not surprised. Just like Noritoshi said, age does not matter in Jujutsu Society). I see now why he was really pissed about Megumi being the head, since Naoya has been promised the position since he was young, only to loose of a 15 year old who is the son of the man he admires :')) However, still, none of it excuses the shit he did. He still has a shitty personality, but it's nice to know a bit of a background.

yeah no of course, no worries! even as a hardcore naoya stan, I can admit this dude is TERRIBLE for so many reasons! yeah I mean that could be pretty irritating because he was born for it, raised to be clan leader, groomed and expected he’d have that role, but nah someone else took his throne. yeah I’m with you on that, naoya has a shitty personality and I would totally smack him if he was real because he makes my eyes roll to the back of my head, but knowing his background and theorizing (read: me going all psychologist mode because he’s the only character I ever cared about to apply my studies into) his character is quite fun. I wish we had more scenes with Naoya though, I really hoped he’d play a bigger role but he just…died, I guess, though I’m starting to believe that maybe he really isn’t dead! Gege did him dirty omg I’ll cry again if it’s really GENUINELY confirmed my baby is gone.

ah no worries about your English, I didn’t really notice anything wrong with it tbh! And I understand, these are all just our opinions/theories/perspectives, we could be wrong or not, we don’t really know because we’re not Gege (⋟﹏⋞) NOOOO PEOPLE HATED YOU ON THAT? ISTG I’VE NEVER SEEN A FANDOM CANCEL SOMEONE AS MUCH AS JJK FANDOM CANCELS NAOYA AND NAOYA STANS LIKE – he’s just a fictional character omg, cancelling naoya is understandable because I would too but attacking his fans? or generally anyone who talks about him in a neutral or not in a way that goes, “yeah I would punch this mfer” is just?? doesn’t make sense to me bestie, people really choose to do that with their time yikes.

AND AWWW THANK YOU YES I PROTECT ALL MY FELLOW NAOYA STANS HERE, I respect who people simp for because if it’s what you enjoy and as long as you’re not hurting anybody, then it really doesn’t matter and it’s not a big deal! and you’re always welcome here uwu. have an even nicer day bestie and I’m sorry I didn’t see this sooner AAAA I really loved talking about this tho HEHEHEH I’m not actually too much of a JJK theorist since I’m not smart enough to pay attention or infer from all the details but NAOYA HMMMMM also childhood friends fic? hmu let’s hear it!! also ahh hmm idk but i get really happy whenever people talk to me freely about naoya bcos even tho i have been a naoya simp for like three months, it was not until recently that people came to me about him and i have just been simping alone (bcos people MADDDD) spsppsps okay rant over thank you anon i love you kith kith <3

#asks with naoya's trophy wife #jjk: manga spoilers #tw: misogyny

23 notes · View notes

airgetlamhh · 4 years

Text

Thoughts on Lostbelt 2

Longpost ahead.

So.

Lostbelt 2. Finally played it after so long, and this will contain spoilers.

To make sure everyone knows what they’re getting into, I’ll give the thesis statement right here: Lostbelt 2 is bad.

The entire time I played through the story, I kept waiting for it to pick up. I kept waiting for it to shrug off the poor pacing, the deus ex machinas, the random things just happening for the convenience of the plot. I kept waiting for it to shrug off the poor characterization, the constant telling instead of showing, the moral myopia. It never did.

From nearly the very start to finish, Lostbelt 2 is bad.

We start off fairly fine! A desperate ploy to sneak through the Lostbelt to meet up with the allies we’ve learned about, the Wandering Sea, interrupted by a Lostbelt Servant attacking us with the intent of stealing the Paper Moon that allows us to perform Zero Sails. All of that is a decent setup!

And then we’re told how strong this Saber is. How incredible they are. How their swordplay surpasses anything else they’ve ever seen, how they desperately wish that Musashi was there, how no no, he didn’t use his sword, he only parried! Things that Sherlock Holmes observes, not Mashu, not the one who’s actually been fighting for two years now, so Mashu seems borderline useless. Holmes figures out it’s Sigurd because...he uses a sword in a Scandinavian Lostbelt, and he figured out that Holmes used magic because Holmes fire magic lasers at him. From this, Holmes is able to pinpoint Sigurd’s identity, and that’s just the setup for the rest of the chapter, really.

To be specific, what I mean is that we will constantly be told how incredible someone is with very little evidence, and the plot will bend and warp to make certain things happen.

The scene does exactly one good thing, which is the foreshadowing of Surtr. Coming into it knowing that aspect allowed me to appreciate little bits like Surtr talking about Heroic Spirits like he wasn’t one, and Surtr not being able to kill Mashu because Sigurd resisted it. But that’s about all that was good in the scene, and all it really does is set up a consistent thing of Surtr being one of the only good parts - until he isn’t, of course.

I’m going to shift here from specifics to characters, because otherwise I’d be rehashing the entire story and I don’t have the time or effort required for that. That being said, it is difficult to decide where to start, so I’ll go right to the very building blocks of the story, the themes.

Lostbelt 2 is, very obviously, attempting to have a theme of different kinds of love throughout the story. Part of this is because it’s very much set up like an otome game that the author Hikaru Sakurai would write, with Ophelia in the center, but it’s a more general theme too, with Skadi and the others all building up towards it. Now, love is an absolutely wonderful thing to build your themes around, exploring and examining it can be great for stories. Beasts themselves do that, examining different varieties of genuine, but toxic love that allow them to be well-meaning monsters.

The problem is that Lostbelt 2 does not engage with these themes on anything but a surface level. Skadi represents maternal love, so she constantly talks about how everyone is her children and how she’s their mother. No examination of the desire to see her children grow, the pain she feels when they fight, the struggle of forcing herself to cling so tightly knowing that it’s suffocating them and going to kill them before they reach 26.

Napoleon represents passionate love, so he flirts with every woman he sees. No examination of why he’s so passionate or what drives him to burn so brightly, beyond a token mention that for some reason when he’s summoned he’s driven to seek out a lover, another aspect of things happening to serve the plot.

Sigurd and Brynhildr represent true, romantic love, so they act mushy the entire chapter from the moment the real Sigurd appears. Now, don’t get me wrong, I liked their scenes a lot and I’m happy that they chose that portrayal instead of the one I was afraid of where it was yandere jokes day in day out. But there’s no engagement with the fundamentals of their love, nothing that tests it, even the existing complications with Brynhildr’s tragic summoning are swept away with a single line of “I can resist them better now maybe because my saint graph is broken”, so ultimately there’s no conflict whatsoever. And sure, that’s nice, but it’s not very good if you’re trying to build your story around a theme of love.

Next, Surtr, who represents obsessive, dangerous love. I honestly actually think Surtr’s done well, even if the love he happens to represent is the least positive one. Surtr is capable of only one thing, destruction, and when he fell for Ophelia in that moment where she saw him and he saw her, he decided that if he ever had the chance, he would repay her the only way he knew how: allowing her to watch as he destroyed everything. When he’s summoned, he acts basically like the possessive one in an otome game, constantly talking about how Ophelia is his woman, getting angry when Napoleon flirts with her, spending most of his time pushing things between them as far as they can go etc. etc. I’m not particularly a fan of how his desire to repay Ophelia battling against his singular purpose transformed him into a typical possessive bastard boyfriend, but it’s at least engaged with on a deeper level.

Finally, Ophelia. She’s the otome game protagonist here, born into an controlling family and finally freed, hiding a secret special power, beloved by almost all the men involved in the chapter while she’s harboring feelings for someone else, even has the typical friendship route with Mashu going on. Her love is a love that she doesn’t acknowledge, but that’s all it is. It’s never engaged with beyond the fact that she clearly loves Kirschtaria but insists she doesn’t, and her final scene as she dies is Mashu telling her that yes, she did love Kirschtaria. That’s all.

For a theme of love that’s supposedly woven into the Lostbelt, it’s barely examined at all. It’s not well written, and in comparison to Lostbelt 1′s theme of what it means to live in a world where the strong devour the weak and how deeply it examined and engaged with that, it’s a genuine disappointment.

Now, to move onto the plot, it’s...in the abstract, it’s fine. Chaldea is intercepted and forced to fight in the Lostbelt and ends up dragged into the overarching ploy by Surtr to release himself and burn everything. That’s a perfectly fine story, but the problem is that when you get to the moment-to-moment stuff, it falls apart completely.

Skadi is constantly talked up as this incredibly powerful true goddess, not merely a Divine Spirit, and we know she can see and hear our every move because of her snow. How does the story work around this borderline omniscience within her Lostbelt? Skadi just decides not to do anything about Chaldea with zero rhyme or reason. We need to sneak into the palace and avoid alerting the guards, except Skadi already knows exactly where we are, except that doesn’t matter because we need to sneak in for some reason. We get captured with no plan to escape, and it just so happens that not only was Skadi keeping a Divine Spirit amalgamation locked in the dungeons too, but that she can piggyback on you making a contract with Napoleon (pure dumb luck you hadn’t done it before) and force a connection with you too, and then cast spells to hide you while you escape. Skadi knows we’re trying to free Brynhildr, who is the sole threat to Sigurd and Skadi’s own Valkyries in the entire Lostbelt? She just decides to do nothing at all.

So much of the plot happens because either Skadi makes terrible decisions to do nothing, even though she knows Chaldea is there to destroy her entire world, or it happens because random shit goes on that couldn’t have been planned for like Sitonai. Shit like Surtr suddenly becoming Fafnir and being able to use the Evil Dragon Phenomenon to brainwash Ophelia somehow, like Ophelia’s Mystic Eye being able to do anything the plot demands, even when it explicitly goes against its existing capabilities like rewinding time on Sigurd’s wounds, like Bryn and Surtr somehow being able to resist the effects of her eye with no buildup or explanation. It’s poorly written in terms of the exact events that happen, and that all culminates in Skadi’s one cool moment, where she declares she’s going to kill the seven billion we fight for for the sake of her ten thousand...and then right after, it reveals that Skadi was going easy on us and refused to use her runes of instant death for no reason even though she was fighting for the survival of her entire world. The moment to moment plot is not good, and neither is what comes next, the worldbuilding.

In Skadi’s Lostbelt, half the world is covered in Surtr’s flames, while the other half is blanketed in Skadi’s snow. Where the two areas meet are the only places where life can grow, and so Skadi set up villages there. Unfortunately, there isn’t enough food for everyone, so she enforces strict population control: if you are not the mother or father of a child by 15, you are sent away to be killed by the giants. If you are the mother or father of a child, you are sent away to be killed at 25 instead. Through this tragic method, Skadi enforces a limit of 100 villages with 100 people, a total population of 10000. This is all fine.

But take a closer look at what we actually see, and this falls apart. First, the giants. The giants are immortal and never need to eat. They do nothing but sleep all day and attack any human that comes close to them. Later, it’s revealed that they’ll attack any heat source including Valkyries, except we know that’s not true. Giants never attack each other, they never attack and destroy any of the plant life around them, they never attack the Lostbelt tree seeds, they even fight alongside mass-produced Valkyries before it’s revealed that Skadi and the three originals can mind-control them! They exist only to destroy, but Skadi can control them with her masks and indeed uses them as labour, keeping them chained up in her castle to be brought out and controlled as needed, or using them to guard Brynhildr’s castle.

Worst of all, the first time we meet anyone in the chapter, it’s Gerda, who is sneaking out of her village to go to the massive liveable area close to Village 23. This area happens to be the only place she can go to get medicinal herbs that she needs or one of the people in her village will die in childbirth. This area is also full of giants, who have not destroyed it despite being fertile and full of life and heat, and who are allowed to take this place that could be used to grow more food for humans who need it, and simply stay there doing nothing.

Now, this is where I thought the game would engage with things. How Skadi, in professing her love for all her children, is actually being cruel and unfair. They certainly set it up in the conversations she has, where she casually mentions how humans must die for her coexistence to continue. Skadi chooses to keep the giants alive despite the fact that they are all braindead and can do nothing but kill and destroy the moment their masks are removed. She chooses to keep them alive even though it comes at the expense of the humans who must die when the giants never make that same sacrifice. She chooses to allow them fertile land even though they cannot farm nor do they need food, and in doing so deprive the humans of potentially living longer, having more supplies to do so. She makes these strange choices and then later reveals she can control the giants to do her bidding, and it all seems to fall into place.

What we see from how she’s characterized early on is that the system is unfair and Skadi is unwilling to change, because it benefits her tremendously. Gerda’s village didn’t have enough herbs to save the children forced to breed by 15, and despite Skadi’s omniscience letting her know that Gerda had snuck out and was trying to save a life, she did nothing. There was no system in place to beg a Valkyrie to get these herbs, and no indication whatsoever that Skadi would use her powers to control the giants to save Gerda’s life. The picture painted is someone who cares about humanity not out of true care, but simply out of obligation. Those who disobey her rules, even for good reasons, are left to die by the engines of destruction she keeps alive.

That’s not the story it tells later on, though. Skadi, portrayed from the start as this all-powerful goddess with complete control over everything, is revealed to be far weaker than we thought, and far less monstrous. Ignore all the times she did control the giants, she actually can’t do it all that well. Ignore all the times she declared she would not allow anyone she loved to be killed, but chose not to act to tell her Valkyries or her giants or anything else to save either Chaldea or Gerda. Ignore the evidence we see on screen that there’s more land that’s simply taken over by the giants, Skadi can only make those initial 100 villages and can’t make any more. Skadi is not bad. Skadi did the best she could. Skadi is morally right.

Please love Skadi, there’s no complicated moral quandary here, she’s just Good.

Comparisons to Lostbelt 1 are impossible to avoid. Both have the same basic cause, a calamity that was impossible to predict and impossible to avert. The stagnation that dooms a Lostbelt created by the kings in question in their desperation to survive. Ivan turned humanity into the Yaga and created a world of strength, where progress is impossible because everyone in his new world was too busy devouring each other to work together. Skadi created a world of weakness, where progress is impossible because she limited the population to avoid everyone dying out. There is, however, one crucial difference between the two. Not in terms of story, not in terms of characters, not in terms of themes.

“Your existence itself has already become a grave sin.”

That one line, spoken to Ivan, is the biggest difference between how the story engages things. In both Lostbelts, Ivan and Skadi did horrible things and made horrible choices because they had to, for the sake of survival. Ivan twisted humanity into monsters that lost capacity for mercy or empathy, while Skadi forced brutal population control and careless death on humanity because of her refusal to allow the giants to be destroyed. Both of them did horrible things, but only one is held to account by the story.

What Ivan did was evil, and the story recognises it. It doesn’t accept the excuse that it was all necessary for survival, because that’s irrelevant. It’s evil regardless. This same sentiment should have been expressed with Skadi, but it’s not. Ivan is condemned, but Skadi is absolved. She had no choice. She did the best she could. After building her up as all-powerful, the end of the story instead destroys her agency and power in its haste to prevent any kind of responsibility falling on Skadi’s head. Even to the very end, where she declares that she’ll kill all seven billion lives we fight for for the sake of her ten thousand, she holds back and allows us to win, despite how it butchers her character.

The biggest irony in all this is that Ivan’s world was worse than hers in ways. There was no way for the blizzards to stop, no meat besides for the demonic beasts. Crops couldn’t grow, and instead of living in peace, the Yaga were constantly tormented and killed by the Oprichniki. There were no liveable areas like there are in Lostbelt 2, no merciful ruler that sees all, and controls the greatest threats, no peaceful villages where food can be grown. There’s far more justification for Ivan to claim he had no choice and that he did all he did for survival, because it’s hard to see what his choices were. But Skadi? Skadi intentionally does not act and intentionally allows suffering and pain to come to her children, both actively by not saving Gerda, and passively by allowing the giants to take land they don’t need. Despite this, Skadi is absolved, because the story desperately wants her to be a tragic waifu that you love.

There’s lots more I could talk about. How Sitonai was pointless and existed only for a pathetic FSN reference. How Gerda was a cowardly and manipulative piece of writing compared to Patxi. How Ophelia’s story of always being told what to do is resolved not by her taking the step to freedom herself, but being told to free herself by someone else. The constant repetition that plagues the chapter, the weirdly prevalent sexism that everyone gets in on when it comes to Ophelia’s love life, the nonsense of the final battle itself, the absolute nonsense of Skadi being Scáthach-Skadi. I could even talk about how I’d fix the chapter, because boy howdy there’s a lot there.

There’s lots more I could talk about, but this is already very long, and I think it speaks for itself. Obviously asks are available if anyone wants me to examine them in more detail, but for now, I’ll finish off with one last reminder.

Lostbelt 2 is bad.

#FGO #fgo lostbelt #cosmos in the lostbelt #Lostbelt 2 #Fate Grand Order #Fate/Grand Order

138 notes · View notes

bastardsunlight · 3 years

Text

My buddy over at @sxvethelastdance is doing some deep dive shit on the subject of Liu Kang’s faith in all his iterations—95, games, 2021—so I decided “hey why don’t I do that too?” because I also desire to be one of The Cool Kids™. This is in no way meant to be taken as gospel truth or whatever. It’s mostly for me own records, headcanons-wise, and just kind of a character-building exercise since Lao has become one of my more active/sought-after muses of late. I’ll hide it under a cut because it’s liable to get long

Like my S C H L O N G [cue pornbot invasion]

PS THIS IS GOING TO BE ABOUT MORE THAN JUST HIS FAITH BECAUSE A LOT OF THAT WILL COME FROM UPBRINGING/FAMILY AND WILL ALSO FOCUS ON HIS PERSONALITY AND THE INS/OUTS OF IT

For our purposes (and like, in reality because I DO respect authorial intent to some extent), Shaolin Monks isn’t canon, like at all. Someone had a fever dream and Liu Kang/Kung Lao were bimbos for a few hours. Okay they’re still kind of like that, god bless ‘em, but you get the idea. AIGHT now that’s out the way, let’s get this cue ball rolling.

Okay for starters, games Lao because well he’s only ever appeared in the games (and we don’t usually talk about Legacy Because OOF middle-aged Liu Kang with a hot topic sweater and anger issues—Liu Kangst. You’re welcome [plays a high G on the nearest piano]).

Kung Lao comes from a long, distinguished family who has always contributed to the order of light—they’re founding members, all that stuff. They did not build the academy itself, but the Order started with the Great Kung Lao. OUR Kung Lao is the fulfillment of a prophecy, some vague old thing that told of an ancestor who would carry the “spirit of the Great Kung Lao”. They figure reincarnation, which is a reasonable assumption. If that’s true or not, only Fire God Liu Kang and Lord Raiden know, because they’re the only ones to have met him in person. Whatever the case, Kung Lao is born with the ability to call spirits and channel their energy, their “pressure” to do a variety of things, including teleport, an ability that thankfully did not come until later—can you imagine a teleporting toddler? Good god.

The entire Kung line is blessed with some spiritual power, here and there. Kung Lao is off the charts. His mother, a short time before his birth, has a dream where the GKL came to her and said “this is the one”. He is reaching out to his ancestor from the Realm of the Honored Dead, knowing full well that the once-a-generation tournament is not far off and feeling the pull to Lao like some kind of magnet or doorway. Kung Lao is the strongest spirit-channeler the Kung family has ever seen. His parents therefore name him Lao and with the name comes a great and terrible burden.

He is, naturally, chosen as the generational tithe to the Wu-Shi academy and, naturally, the Order of Light. This is a case of being raised in the faith, knowing little else, but being sharp enough to question some things. Obviously, as a kid, he doesn’t question—he just learns and obeys, trains under various masters, etc. Sometime during his younger years, an orphan shows up at the temple and, being a charitable organization, the elders of the temple take him in and name the boy Liu Kang. Liu and Lao become fast friends and the elders are, of course, pleased as punch to see the Kung’s legacy being a good influence on someone like Liu Kang who, unbeknownst to anyone but them (and Raiden), is the blood of Onaga and in possession of a terrible power himself. It does not occur to them that Lao will not be chosen by the god of thunder to be Earthrealm’s champion. Everyone at the academy trains for this purpose, but in THIS generation, no one even questions that it will be Lao.

Kung Lao is extremely gifted, rarely has to study, hardly tries on all exams and new techniques and masters the strange and deadly weapon that is his signature with relatively few injuries. Combining that with his abilities to move spiritual force and teleport and he is a shoe-in. His faith in the Elder Gods is more of a background hum, at this point and, though he has met Lord Raiden, his faith there, too, is hardly a thought. It’s just part of his life. As anyone who grows up in a faith could tell you, the routines become like breathing.

Liu Kang and Kung Lao grow side-by-side as best friends, confidants, troublemakers (though Lao is absolutely the one cutting class), and, as they grow older and into themselves, lovers.

The first time Kung Lao’s faith comes to the forefront and really shakes is when Lord Raiden choses Liu Kang to be his champion for Mortal Kombat. There is the initial shock, of course, and then there is fear. Mortal Kombat has killed very Earthrealm champion, without exception, since the Great Kung Lao’s second attempt. The legends of Prince Goro are written in the forbidden texts of the academy’s library and naturally, the shaolin rowdy boys have broken in and read them all. Kung Lao meditates for hours, wondering what he did wrong. He is never, at any point, resentful toward Liu Kang himself, who has always been an unfailingly loyal friend, a humble monk, an excellent student, and has, with hard work and perseverance, excelled in HIS classes as well.

The more he considers it, the more his faith in the Elder Gods is shaken—if it was ever terribly solid in the first place. More than that, he begins to mistrust Raiden. Kung Lao determines that, due to the hopelessness of the situation, the likelihood of Liu Kang’s return is almost zero. He has all the faith in the world in how strong Liu Kang is, of course, but those odds are not good. He begins to deeply resent the idea that Liu was chosen as a lamb for slaughter based on factors other than likelihood to win. This is also when the insecurity starts to REALLY set in.

Kung Lao doesn’t realize that Liu Kang views him as equal or superior, seeing how he has never had to study or work at ANYTHING to just nail whatever it is, every time. Kung Lao is one of those young adults who was a child prodigy and is experiencing some SERIOUS burnout in his early twenties. It isn’t that Kung Lao doesn’t know he’s good—he’s very aware of his skill. It comes out as brazen arrogance. No one but Liu Kang can seem to knock him down ANY pegs. His faith, he realizes, has always been in himself and in Liu, in what they’ve built and shared. There is a depth of intimacy in that friendship that goes beyond even the physical—though there IS that.

He’s kind of in the mode of “what have the Elder Gods ever done for me?” (spoiler alert: nothing) and he questions Raiden’s motivations as he slowly adds shit up. Liu Kang is an orphan, of no family, with great power. He doesn’t know if there’s something else to it, but he sees the reactions of the elders of the temple when Raiden chooses Liu and it isn’t “weird that you didn’t choose the kid we groomed from birth to do this” but an almost insane level of like, understanding, as if this was a possible outcome. There is something else up, but he has no way of knowing it. He hates the way Liu just accepts it and while they are still capable of making jokes about the whole situation, he can sense the turmoil within Liu, as well, who is ALSO wondering why Lao wasn’t chosen.

Kung Lao is now the black sheep, the family failure, the one who was beaten out by an orphan. This really begins his “second banana” status and everyone seems to know it. They equate his brash pride to insecurity, which in a way it is, because part of him will always wonder what he did wrong, but they did not know him before. It goes from being part of his personality to being a shield. If he is arrogant and aloof, untouchable, no one will see the doubt and trepidation within. And STILL the Elder Gods do NOTHING. When he sneaks into the tournament, he’s taking matters into his own hands, where he is convinced they have always been.

See, he had been okay with dying for Earthrealm, though he was certain with this power, he wouldn’t—that he could save the place like the ancestor for which he was named. He is not ready to lose Liu Kang.

Aight so caveat here, most of this above was built with a VERY specific Liu Kang in mind and below is 100% riding on that same writer (heh riding). None of this has to, in any way, reflect on anyone else’s Liu Kang—not that I’ve seen a ton of those.

MK2021 for all its faults, had amazing characterization for the heroes, even if some of the cuts, scenes, and lines were a bit ……. Clunky. Kung Lao is clearly a powerful fighter, confident to the point of arrogance, but with the skill to back it up. Even when Cole puts him in the dirt, he hops back up and summons his hat, like “okay cool, now let’s get real” because Kombat is not like a cage fight. This is a man who knows few limitations, is highly skilled, and has clearly been raised in the faith, much like his counterpart from the games. His Arcana is passed through his bloodline, much like that of the Hasashi clan and a few others who have passed out of living memory, likely done in by previous Outworld assassination coups.

The biggest difference between games and 2021 Lao is that the latter is a man who demands proof at every turn, by force if necessary, AND HE IS AWARE OF THIS. His faith rests not in the Elder Gods—not caring much for them or their lack of involvement—but in Raiden himself and only then because he has challenged the god of thunder and was put down pretty soundly. Kung Lao respects ability. He has it, so he therefore expects everyone around him to hold themselves to that same standard.

He is two or three years older than Kang, the young orphan Master Bo’ Rai Cho brought to the temple when they are still children, probably six and nine, give or take. They have no classes together, initially, but Kung Lao ss instructed to keep an eye on him, to help him adjust. The two become fast friends and Liu Kang admires the bejeezus out of his shi xiong, both because of that age difference and the obvious experience gap, and because Kung Lao will ALWAYS go to bat for him.

Kung Lao is well aware of the stakes of this tournament, knows that it is, for the most part, riding on him. This becomes doubly true when Sub-Zero is sent to Earthrealm to start taking out the other champions, one by one, to halt a prophecy. Someone carrying Hasashi blood will upset the balance of the tournament.

He is a dutiful monk, a competent teacher, a powerful fighter, and, alongside Liu Kang, the best hope humanity has for victory. Kung Lao’s resentment, in this universe, is directed primarily toward the elders who sent Kang out into the world after his graduation from the academy as a student (as must all students, some with specific orders, and some with more vague directions) to find his true path. The elders have essentially forced Kang to relive the darkest time in his life and thence, to feel the rage and resentment that has for so long boiled beneath his skin, channeling it into a killing urge. Kung Lao protects Liu Kang from this as best he can and, more than that, he protects the world from Liu Kang.

#aboutlaometa #both of 'em are in here so

14 notes · View notes

ceies · 4 years

Text

Thorfinn - Where he came from and where to go?

I’ve watched Vinland Saga last week and started giving my opinion on the show recently. Since it’s all still on the forefront of my mind, I like to talk a little bit about my first impression of these characters. So “First impression” because I only watched Vinland Saga once, but I’ve rewatched certain clips, read a few short YouTube-comments and … spoken with people about it (mostly fawning over Askeladd tbh :D). So, this is not just my first impression after watching the show, but it is also influenced a little bit by the ideas of other people. However, as I haven’t actually gone and read any other characterizations before… there may be a lot that I’ve missed there may be a lot of questions I have that are long answered within the fandom or there may be some interpretations of these characters, that are not shared in maybe more thought-out and well-researched Characterizations.

So Spoiler Alert!

Synopsis:

In the first episode Thorfinn is just six years old. He lives with his father, mother and older sister in a small village on Iceland. His father is former and now retired warrior and as such admired by the whole village. He is in many ways what not just Thorfinn but many kids and young adults in the village aspire to be. Thors’ friend Leif is a sailor who has traveled all the way to “Vinland” (essentially Canada, I think) and tells inspiring stories to Thorfinn and the other kids. Thus, Thorfinn grew up dreaming to become a warrior like his father, traveling to the fabled “Vinland”, conquering the seas and going out on his own adventures.

The chance for an adventure comes sooner than expected, when Thors old comrade Floki and his Jomsvikings come to Iceland to demand that Thors joins the war between Denmark and England. Thors who has little choice in the matter agrees and thus, the whole village breaks out in excitement for the upcoming war. A war Thorfinn, intends to join.

When Thorfinn finds his father’s old weapons and draws the dagger being enraptured by it’s “Beauty”, his father talks to him about “Killing”.

“You have no enemies. Nobody has enemies. There is no one who it’s okay to kill.”

Thorfinn doesn’t understand these words, yet, and the next day he sneaks out onto his father’s ship to join the journey to Norway and possibly the war in England. However, before they ever reach Norway, they are attacked by a band of Vikings. Thors being the “larger than life” powerful warrior that he is, fights the pirates/Vikings with his bare hands, then challenges Askeladd, the leader, to a duel demanding that in case of his victory all of his men go free. Despite Thors easily overpowering Askeladd, the pirates don’t honor the duel and Thorfinn is promptly taken hostage.

To protect his son and men, Thors gives his life and dies in front of Thorfinn. Some of his last words were:

“A true warrior does not need a sword.”

Thorfinn is devastated by that loss. He does not understand how his father who was so much more powerful could die. He doesn’t understand why his father refused to kill and is now dead himself. What he does understand, is that his father’s murderer Askeladd still lives. Disregarding or simply not understanding his father’s words, the young child swears vengeance against Askeladd, sneaks upon his father’s ship that the pirates take as spoils and screams his intention at the enemy.

Shortly after the Pirates land in England, Thorfinn gets his first chance at revenge. He stands over a supposedly sleeping Askeladd, sword raised over his head… and then he hesitates, steps back, and leaves. The next morning, he challenges Askeladd to an honorable duel, stating that as his father’s son, he would go the honorable way.

Of course, young Thorfinn stands no chance against Askeladd, but after another few encounters between Thorfinn and the band of Vikings Askeladd offers the boy to join his men, proof himself on the battlefield and then duel him again as often as he liked.

In the following years, Askeladd puts Thorfinn to use. He sends him on increasingly more difficult tasks, many of which could have easily ended in the boy’s death. Slowly killing his way through England, Thorfinn grows up into a teenager. By the time he is sixteen he’s a much changed and stronger warrior and he finally gets another chance to duel Askeladd……..

The Father, and the Father’s Killer

Thorfinn grows up from a six-year-old bright and happy child full of dreams of adventure, with a loving family, and a peaceful home to a teenager obsessed with hatred and vengeance, growing up on the battlefield while drowning in guilt.

What is very apparent early on is that, while Thorfinn focuses his rage on Askeladd who murdered his father, in his most desperate moments he also and maybe even to a greater extent blames himself for his father’s death. He was taken hostage when his father was all but winning the duel. He had snuck onto the ship against his parents’ wishes. Had he not been there, maybe his father would have lived. Another aspect that he feels guilt over – although this is hardly addressed until midway through the season – is that he left his family behind. While his father is dead, his mother and sister still live on Iceland. A slightly older Thorfinn has a dream of his father, telling him to come home and protect his family, only for the dream to turn into a nightmare when the village and is attacked and his father is killed all over again, while Thorfinn is powerless.

He often dreams of Thors. In these dreams he always turns into a child again. His father gives advice that is very true to Thors’ actual character. It is quite obvious from this that Thorfinn knows his father would not want him to pursue revenge and kill Askeladd. It’s something he has known from the beginning, even if he does not understand exactly why his father is like that or what it means to be a “true warrior”. Thorfinn listens to his father, but ultimately, he does not follow. There are some things even dream-Thors does not tell his son. Things he “has to learn himself”. As those dreams in my opinion are just that: dreams and not otherworldly visions, this seems to suggest that there in fact are many things Thorfinn does not know about his father even subconsciously. He knows his father would not want him to pursue revenge, but he does not understand why. The fact that Thorfinn always reverts to his six-year-old self in those dreams I think means that he never grew up from that moment. He might have physically aged, gotten a lot stronger and a bit smarter, but he is internally still that same small child devastated by his father’s death. In ten years, he never moved on, he never got to properly mourn.

Instead he focuses all his hatred on Askeladd, obsessed with revenge – which seems to be the very reason he is never able to move forward as a character. Over the years, and at the end of the show this is painfully apparent: Thorfinn did not grow. He got more badass, but he never changed. He is the same angry boy, only maybe with every year a little bit angrier a little bit more lost in the darkness.

When Leif finds him years later, he does not even recognize the happy and bright young boy within the hateful teenager he meets.

To Thorfinn Thors is an anchor. He is his idol, who he aspires to be. It is his father he thinks about when he imagines a warrior, a true warrior or the concept of honor. It is because of his father that he decides to seak revenge the “honorable” way in a fair duel instead of a dagger in the dark. In many ways Thors is a bright beacon in Thorfinn’s life. He is his idol and it is him whom he turns to in his dreams. However, Thors is not just the Anchor he can rely on… maybe more so he is an anchor to drag him down further into the darkness. Because it is Thors death that Thorfinn focuses on more than his lectures. It’s his pursuit of revenge that he will disregard even Thors most fundamental ideas for.

Thorfinn knows, his father would not want him to kill… and yet he kills left and right. Thorfinn knows his father would want him to go back home, and yet he spent 11 years growing up in war. And all of that happens because of Thors even more so than “in spite” of Thors.

This show very much explores the idea of “Killing the Father”. And Thorfinn is stuck in stasis: His father is dead, but he cannot let go. (This is in stark contrast to Canute, who can let go of Ragnar.)

The other relationship that is most important in exploring Thorfinn’s character is Askeladd. Askeladd is for almost the entirety of the season Thorfinn’s sole focus of his hatred. While in the beginning, he still shows anger and resentment against characters like Bjorn – who were very much also responsible for the way his father died – at the end of the day, it seems to be just Askeladd who he is obsessed with.

Askeladd at this point is an adult, and a lot stronger than Thorfinn, so of course this young kid is no threat to him. But smart, conniving and pragmatic bastard that he is, he knew immediately how to use this revenge-obsessed boy to his advantage. Thorfinn is essentially willing to do everything to get Askeladd to agree to a duel. He also seems to have little concern for his own safety, while simultaneously being a crafty and increasingly strong warrior. Askeladd can use this kid to his maximum potential and soon Thorfinn grows into the most effective and powerful weapon Askeladd has at his disposal – short of his own intellect.

Thorfinn… is somewhat aware of the fact, that Askeladd uses him, but until the very end he never quite understands how much he is using him. Thorfinn does all these things, because he truly believes it will lead to his vengeance. But Askeladd goes along, because he knows for a fact, it never will – or only in many, many years when Askeladd is already old and weak.

To Askeladd Thorfinn’s revenge is a ridiculous game. It’s something that is quite obvious in the Anime from the start, but it hits even harder when Askeladd finally spells it out for Thorfinn:

Thorfinn is a slave to his revenge. And thus, he is a slave to Askeladd. And that without even really knowing.

Because physically there is nothing hindering him from just leaving Askeladd and going home. But he can’t. The weirdest situation is when Thorfinn talks to a slave girl about how he is no slave – when he very much is in that meaning of the word – but if he were he would kill his slaver – which he is very much trying to do… at least that’s what I thought at first. Later Askeladd spells it out: He is in fact a slave to his vengeance, a slave to Askeladd… but he never really tried to kill him. Because if he had, Askeladd would be long dead. All Thorfinn is doing, is playing a ridiculous game because he is terrified of “liberating himself” as that would force him to finally acknowledge his own guilt.

Apart from that hatred, ultimately, there’s another deeper relationship between Askeladd and Thorfinn. This is something the show, as well as both characters involved try to hide and deny for the longest time, but also the type of relationship you know has to be there. Askeladd essentially raised Thorfinn for 11 years. He did that through the harshest means, demanding traumatizing and horrendous things of him, turning him into a murderer, ridiculing him, beating him to a pulp and readily abandoning him on the battlefield. But he still raised him, he spent 11 with this boy watching him grow up from child to man. Thorfinn grew up with Askeladd as his closest and really only relationship, as an adult to learn from. He did that kicking and screaming, spewing hatred and anger… but he did spend 11 years growing up under Askeladd.

Of course, between the two, eventually a relationship would form that went deeper than just superficial pragmatism on one side and deep-rooted anger on the other. Ultimately, they would grow to care for each other. This is of course something both denied, even to themselves. There are a few moments like when Askeladd looks at Thorfinn and suddenly realizes how much he had grown, that seem to hint at that growing relationship, but it is well-hidden within these characters. As long as Thorfinn is obsessed with revenge he can not let himself care for Askeladd and as long as Askeladd sees such a useful tool in Thorfinn he cannot quite acknowledge that he would regret his death.

Shortly before Askeladd’s death Thorfinn can finally let go of his pursuit of vengeance. There is a short scene when Thorfinn stands in Leif’s boat staring at a bird. This is one of the scenes that I’ve been thinking about the most. It reminds me a little bit of a scene in Episode 7 when the war was put on halt and upon questioned what to do now, Askeladd said they would “do what the birds do”. So maybe, I thought, it meant that with Thorfinn having given up on his revenge and no real purpose where to go, staring at the bird take flight made Thorfinn remember that moment and “take flight himself.” I don’t know… if somebody has a good interpretation of that scene: Help me out!

I don’t think Thorfinn went to find Askeladd. Instead, I think that Thorfinn upon wandering through the town heard the commotion and realized something was happening. However, when he saw Askeladd die in front of him, it was obvious that he cared. There is still part of him, that I think is attributing the pain that he feels upon the loss of his “mentor” to his now forever lost chance at revenge. But it is telling, that Askeladd even somewhat needs to remind him that they are supposed to be enemies.

When Askeladd dies Thorfinn not just ultimately loses his purpose that had kept him going for the last 11 years but he also loses a person that was quite close to him, even if he utterly hated him. Thorfinn is devastated.

I think it’s interesting to mention at this point, that consistent with his character so far, the first reaction he jumps to after Askeladd died was again revenge, attacking Canute. After that however, the moment when he is dragged away from Askeladd’s body, he in his last act of the season let’s go of his dagger.

This is so important, because while I assume it means that at this point, he finally let go of his revenge- because it is ultimately lost to him – and the last 11 years… He also let go of the last momentum of his father So, maybe this is a way of him saying that he can let go of Thors now.

As this is supposed to be a characterization of Thorfinn not Askeladd, and since it’s already very long I won’t go into detail about Askeladd’s relationship with Thorfinn (so the other way around) nor what Askeladd maybe thought when he saw Thorfinn in the finale nor what he maybe meant with his words… that will all be part of a possible later, and possibly even longer Askeladd-post… But I want to finish this trying to guess where Thorfinn may go from here:

So… Thorfinn I think is at this point ready to properly mourn his father. He never did this, because he was never really willing to accept his death. I see him letting go of the dagger, not just as him letting go of his hatred and vengeance, but also him slowly getting ready to let go of his father. Finally, 11 years after his death. That said, that probably won’t be easy. I don’t really know that much about the process of mourning, but I’ve heard about the “five Stages of Grief” and if this is in anyway like that… he has been stuck in the “Anger” phase for the longest time. So, I think it’s possible that in a second season he may be stuck for a while in the bargaining and/or depression stage… And I think, we will probably have to go through the same process now, regarding Askeladd.

The way Askeladd died was in a way similar to how Thors died, as in “he seemed to do fine in battle, then Thorfinn appeared, creating an opening for the killer”. So, I don’t think he will be stuck on “Anger” the way he did for Thors’ death, because I think he is old enough to ultimately understand what has happened and why. He did have a short outbreak of anger here, and he may not like Canute anymore – if he ever did… but ultimately, I don’t think he will stay angry at Canute. However, I think in the next season Guilt might be a rather unfortunate companion, even if again he probably knows intellectually that it’s not his fault. This fits because it also is what he has to now deal with in regard to Thors’ death.

If I understand my (very shallow and quick) google search on the Five Stages of Grief correctly, that would be part of the “Bargaining” stage.

Askeladd’s last words were more or less:

“How do you want to live your life? Don’t stay here forever. Go ahead, Son of Thors. Go beyond. Become a true warrior, that is your real fight.”

The way Thorfinn looked in this scene, the question “what to do after Askeladd’s death” never crossed his mind. So even when he joined Leif…it wasn’t really so much a conscious decision of “this is what I want to do” but rather… just following Leif around.

So, because the show is called Vinland Saga… I do think, that ultimately, he will join Leif to get to Vinland or explore some new ocean. But… not now. At the moment, I think he has to do some soul searching which… so far he wasn’t the quickest in developing and growing internally, the guilt for Thors’ and Askeladd’s deaths will probably further drag him down – so I think it will be a while until he makes the decision what he wants to do. If this decision will then be going to Vinland or whether he first decides to do something else entirely I do not know… But the way I’ve come to know Thorfinn I would not be surprised if he needed a big junk if not the entirety of season two trying to just overcome his guilt and finding a new path forward.

That said, even if he now still wanted to go with Leif… which I assume maybe he would want to do that, just because it’s the only option he has and the only person in the town he really cares for… I think that would be difficult because he just attacked Prince/King Canute. So… he’s not going to die… but I’m pretty sure this will have consequences and he will be punished in some way… I’m kind of… unsure what punishment that would be, but as I have spoiled myself a little bit by seeing a picture for the second season where he was in chains – I assume the punishment will be slavery. Everything else doesn’t make much sense anyway, I guess unless they want to mutilate him… which… would be unfortunate since we spent so much time building him up as this badass duel-wielding warrior.

Thorfinn as a Main Character:

The funny thing about Thorfinn in his role of main character is, that through long stretches of the first season he doesn’t feel like the Protagonist. Don’t get me wrong, the Anime makes it quite clear that he IS in fact the main character, but since he does not change much at all between episodes 5 and 22, he seems somewhat “less exciting to follow around” as a character. While I was always hyped to see him fight somebody, midway through the season Canute and Askeladd stole the show. They seemed so much more exciting and so much more interesting to follow around. Both characters were also far more active in the story, while Thorfinn was just lagging behind. Not just in terms of character development but also in terms of the plot that was now unfolding. For the most part – excluding the emotional highlight of Thorfinn’s breakdown over Askeladd’s death – story wise Thorfinn wasn’t needed for the finale. Overall it felt like Thorfinn got less and less relevant for the actual plot the closer we got to the end of the show. Of course, he had moments in between, and especially the last three episodes did wonders for his character development, but still during these episodes I felt like the story didn’t care about him. It wasn’t about him. And the part oft the plot that he cared about (the revenge arc) was something nobody else – not even Askeladd really cared about.

This is difficult to put into words because… Thorfinn still got a lot of shine even in the last episodes. He was always a focal point in the show. But it’s like Thorfinn follows a character-centric story, that focuses entirely on his development and how he processes his father’s death, how he learns to let go of his pursuit for revenge, how he grows up and becomes an adult… while everybody else and the rest of the world follow a very plot-driven story of “We need to decide the succession of the Danish throne”. And this is a plot in which Thorfinn as the main character has no investment in whatsoever…

The one character that brings and holds these two separate stories together is Askeladd. So, I feel like over the course of this Saga we will probably watch Thorfinn grow from young child to old age and follow him through whatever development he goes through in that time. In that sense, he is the main character. But it also feels like what happens around him, is not always or maybe even not at all about him and the individual arcs or seasons may prominently feature other characters as a second “seasonal main character”. In that sense, “Thorfinn is the main character of the Vinland Saga, but this is Askeladd’s Arc… or maybe even Canute’s Arc”.

Of course, it could be that I’m wrong and this is only the case for the prologue, because it is a prologue and Thorfinn is still young and once he is older and more powerful and has a new agenda, he will be able to shape events more actively himself.

Over the course of the Season there were a few times where I did not particularly like him as a character, where I found frustrating or even a bit annoying, but I always understood his anger. As far as main characters with revenge-arcs go (which is not a character-arc I normally care about), I think this is my favorite handling of this particular character type. What I also really appreciate is how while in this season this character is stuck on revenge and he is stuck on revenge for a long time, it is also obvious at the end, that this will change. And since this is the Prologue, I have high hopes that maybe in the future we will see more of a “redemption type” story unfold. As normally if there is a main character in pursuit of revenge, it seems like moving past that and giving up on it is the major thing the story is about. Here with Thorfinn, him giving up on revenge is already happening in the Prologue. So maybe I’m too optimistic about where this story will unfold, but I’m looking forward to following a character who has already given up on his revenge before the main story is even really starting.

#vinland saga #thorfinn #son of thor #thorfinn karlsefni #spoilers #vinland saga season 1 #charcterization

30 notes · View notes

overthedub · 4 years

Text

Gorillaz Fic Recs Part 1

Today’s a day all about love, and I just feel like there isn’t a whole lot of love shown towards the fanfic side of this fandom. Hopefully my haphazard rec list can fix that.

A lot of fics on this list (though certainly not all) feature Murdoc as the main character (because I love him lol), so if you hate him, maybe skip over this rec list.

Got a good mix of family fics, angst, and other stuff, so take your pick.

(Part 2 incoming)

Family Fics

Things They Don’t Understand by Ferrenbach

Summary: Murdoc is the most real person in the world, but it's hard to make people understand when he doesn't have the words.

Rating: Teen

BOOOIIII this fic. THIS fic right here is my jam. I absolutely adore it to bits, and whenever I’m lacking inspiration to write for my own fic, I go and revisit it.

The poetic style, the deep characterizations of both Murdoc and 2-D, just everything about this fic is so damn good, my dudes. Holy shit, I cannot recommend this one-shot enough.

Worlds Infinite by Ferrenbach

Summary:

Murdoc goes looking for 2-D, who can only take so much party noise. He can also only take so much alcohol before turning into an armchair philosopher. Murdoc is more practical. There's no sense in musing on "what-ifs" after all, is there?

Rating: Gen

Yet another great piece from Ferrenbach. I’ve been meaning to delve into their other fics, too, but so far I’ve only had time to read a couple of their one-shots.

I adore the atmosphere of this fic, and the descriptions and characterizatons of Murdoc and 2-D are just as amazing as in Things They Don’t Understand.

The Gunpowder Princess by ghoullly

Summary:

A runaway princess with a gun on her back

A man with raven's wings and a bird's skull atop his head.

A giant man with long legs and the biggest heart she'd ever seen (figuratively and literally).

A man with a ghost between his ears and the ability to sway the elements with his mood.

One man is mute, one man is blind, and one man is deaf.

A ragtag group of misfits band together to travel to the edge of Japan to help the young heiress escape her planned assassination. They quickly realize that it's not as easy as it sounds, especially with some dangerous people following close behind.

Rating: Mature

I haven’t had the chance to catch up with this fic in a while (and it’s unfinished), but I adore this AU to bits. Japanese folklore AND found family dynamic? Yes, please.

return address by beepboopwriting

Summary:

Even evil has loved ones.

Sometimes, evil sends said loved ones letters written in nasty ink and addressed from a high security prison.

Loved one replies. She replies a lot.

Rating: Teen

This one makes me wanna cry, man. Murdoc and Noodle’s father-daughter relationship was one of the reasons I joined this fandom in the first place, and this Phase 5 fic does NOT disappoint. My heart aaaaah

Horse With No Name by Invader Sam

Summary:

Another one-shot Gorillaz fic, this time set during their first US tour. Noodle is plagued with nightmares and Murdoc, fearing it may be affecting her performance in the band, decides to 'handle it'. :) Rated for one or two curse words.

Rating: Teen

This is a really cute Phase 1 Murdad one-shot that made me smile a lot.

Sleepover by vinnie2757

Summary: 'Is this "Everybody Crawls into Murdoc's Bed Night" and I wasn't informed?’

Rating: K

Another cute Phase 1 one-shot where both Noodle and 2-D have nightmares and sneak into Murdoc’s bed to talk to him about it like the kids they are, much to his weary dismay.

Snapshots by vinnie2757

Summary:

The early years are full of the soft moments, the easy smiles and piggybacks, the laughter and the supportive hands behind backs. [A collection of moments from a time when Gorillaz were happy.]

Rating: K+

This one-shot collection spans across multiple phases and is an all-around nice time. No drama, no angst, just Gorillaz being a family. :D

You Are Now Entering The Harmonic World... by OceanBacon23

Summary:

A collection of little scenes. Each deals with a certain song by Gorillaz, and you might need to know each song before you can read the story.

No archive warnings apply. ADDITIONAL WARNINGS MAY BE PLACED IN AUTHORS' NOTES.

Rating: Gen

I haven’t read all the one-shots in this collection yet, but it’s nice to take a peek into these song creation moments the band members get up to here.

The Apology by eyedentification

Summary: Murdoc makes amends. (My own take on a common Gorillaz fanfic trope.)

Rating: Mature

This is more a comedy one-shot than a family one. I’m not exaggerating when I say I yelled at this Phase 4 fic lmao. I won’t spoil anything other than the fact that this is just Peak Murdoc™.

Press, Release by ratbat

Summary:

Privacy is something you trade for fame, Murdoc knew that, but there's always something personal you hope to cling to, something to keep for yourself.

Now if only the fucking media and their hack lackeys would quit acting like that belonged to them too.

Rating: Teen

This is a great Phase 1 fic focusing on Murdoc’s own battle with internalized homophobia after the media tries to rip his coming out away from him in an interview.

This fic does have some slurs in it, courtesy of Murdoc’s own foul mouth and internalized hatred, but do read this one if you’re okay reading that sort of thing.

What Are We Going to Do? by Close_enough_to_lose

Summary:

Murdoc notices that Noodle looks embarrassed while handing 2D the lyric sheet for Every Planet We Reach Is Dead. He quickly figures out why. Luckily, it’s one thing he’s equipped to deal with.

Or,

Murdoc finds out Noodle is bi and gives her his advice.

Rating: Teen

More Murdoc being a good dad to Noodle. :D Just a bi dad giving his bi daughter (actually good) advice.

2D is Weird by alexisntedgy

Summary:

2D has always been a little different. Or, other people always thought he was. But when people keep telling someone that they're weird, it starts to get to you.

Or, 2D is autistic and has a panic attack because of his ~issues~.

TW for internalized ableism, panic attacks, and general ableism. Any other TWs in the notes.

Rating: Teen

I also have a headcanon that 2-D is autistic, and I like how this fic portrays how he struggles with his and other people’s perceptions of it and him. Noodle’s also being a good sister to him here, so that’s a plus.

Just Another Girl by alexisntedgy

Summary:

Noodle is a girl. She knows that. The only problem is, the rest of the world doesn't know it.

Rated T for Murdoc

Basically just trans Noodle. I love her she's gr8 :))

Rating: Teen

I haven’t caught up with this fic all the way through yet either, but the chapters I have read are super cute and wholesome and full of Gorillaz family-bonding. :3

Angst Fics

Pretending by FleetRed

Summary: After a casual hookup, Stu imagines what it would be like if it were something more.

Rating: Teen

I adore the many character study fics in this fandom, and this one is no exception. It’s a great insight into 2-D’s romantic mind.

The Selfish Giant by fashionpixiez

Summary:

YOU ARE MURDOC NICCALS, AND YOU ARE EMPTY.

No, no. Don’t tell me you’re not. You’re empty, aren’t you ? A vessel. But you aren’t the kind of vessel that wants to be filled, are you? No. You reach out to people and you touch their hearts and you burn them, because you want them to feel some of that burning emptiness too. that’s all you’re good for. (It’s like it’s all you’ve ever known.)

Rating: Teen

This fic hurts my heart, but damn is it good. The descriptions of Murdoc’s feelings and his past are so poignant here, I just want to hug him.

Other Murdoc-Related Fics

Tattoos by HowlingMisfit

Summary: There's a reason why Murdoc doesn't have them anymore. (Rated for: Major character "death", Gore, Blood, Nudity and Murdoc.)

Rating: Mature

This is a horror/supernatural one-shot that (to me at least) is more comedic than scary. Of course, the descriptions are downright macabre (which I love), but...again Peak Murdoc here.

Lucy, I’m Home by TheDarkLegate

Summary:

After the release of Humanz, Murdoc isn't willing to wait another seven years for more success. Lucifer wants to see just what he'll give up to get it. One shot. Spiritual Successor to "A Day in the Life of Satan".

Rating: Teen

I’ve hardly (if ever) seen any fanfics that delve into Murdoc’s deal with the Devil. The way Lucifer is portrayed as a world-weary businessman rather than someone to fear is pretty funny and really in line with Gorillaz’ sense of humor, too.

Morning Person by Lmaooooonade

Summary:

A young boy cherishes the mornings where he can just exist. Things might not be great, but he can at least exist peacefully for a while.

Rated Teen for my fucking language.

Based off the headcanon of another creator I very much admire, please inquire within.

Rating: Teen

This Phase 0 fic is a great stand-alone read even if I haven’t really delved into the headcanons that inspired their fic (though I have seen their neat artwork around sometimes).

If I move my hands fast enough, I won’t die by alexisntedgy

Summary:

Murdoc Niccals has Tourette’s syndrome, this is the story of his journey.

Because nobody else has written about this headcanon yet!!

This will probably be a place to keep Tourettes!murdoc ficlets and one shots!!! For context, I (the author) have a tic disorder :)

Rating: Teen

Personally, I like Murdoc’s verbal tics, so it’s interesting to see someone else’s take on why he does them here.

Aaaand that’s it for now! I’ve read a lot more Gorillaz fics than this, but this list was getting long enough as it is, so I figure it’d be best to just make another rec post based on genre.

Part 2 of my recs will focus more on OC/Murdoc and reader/Murdoc romance fics, so stay tuned for those!

If you have any fic recs for me, by all means tell me about them! Just keep in mind that I don’t like any band ships aside from 2Russ and RussDel.

Self-insert OCs or reader fics are a-okay, though!

#if anyone has any other fic recs lmk!#Gorillaz #fanfiction

20 notes · View notes

soncfseed · 4 years

Video

youtube

REPOSTED FROM MY OLD BLOG: Probably my most important headcanon, so please take the time to read this!!

spoilers ahead, but im gonna look at ethans cutscenes and talk about how his bpd (borderline personality disorder) affects his actions and his perceptions throughout the story of new dawn. this is all just headcanon and my interpretation of ethan and how bpd would affect him. none of this is meant to excuse his more nefarious actions, but explain why my interpretation of ethan doesnt pin him as a selfish, horrible, awful monster, but rather a young man with a lot of unresolved trauma and a serious mental health condition who ended up making some terrible choices that resulted in a lot of pain for a lot of people.

0:05 - ethan’s introduction

in this scene ethan experiences some pretty quick and dramatic mood shifts, and has a pretty significant emotional outburst. these are characteristic of the mood swings and emotional dis-regulation experienced by many people with bpd. he starts off catching the captain off guard, sneaking up behind them. ethan has been taught to distrust outsiders, and a symptom of bpd he experiences is suspicion of others and sometimes brief bouts of paranoia. this kind of behaviour makes sense when this is taken into context.

he says that he might not be what the captain expects. this is part of his low self esteem and struggles with his self image and how others perceive him. he constantly feels as though he can never truly be his own person, outside of joseph seed, and that his existence is a disappointment to those who know him.

once he sees the book, he is triggered into a bit of an emotional rollercoaster. acknowledging that the deputy is the one who found the book, and according to joseph’s prophecy will be the true ruler of new eden, is what sets him off. once ethan goes into his rant about it should’ve been him, he’s experiencing a mood swing and sudden spike in his anger and irritability. due to his issues w emotional regulation and control over his expressions of emotion, ethan lashes out by screaming and knocking over the podium in the church. mood swings for bpd sufferers can be only minutes long. what pulls ethan back down to earth a bit is a sudden rush when he realizes he can work with the captain to enlighten new eden to the truth: that joseph is a man, not a messiah, and kind of a shitty one at that who abandoned them all.

3:50 - ethan’s first speech in new eden

ethan’s posturing here is just that; posturing. he’s putting on a bit of a show with the “non believer” bit. he does, however, not entirely trust outsiders nor would he trust that the people of new eden wouldn’t turn on him if he suggested that the captain go north. no, instead he plays off of what he expects the people will do to avoid potential rejection or rebellion. this plays off of his mistrust and suspicion of others, as well as serves to protect his secret interests (getting proof that joseph is dead to get new eden to move on from him) and his ego (tied to the bpd symptom of self image issues and unstable self realization).

ethan can’t help but be a bit sarcastic with “we are all his children”. sarcasm and unwarranted aloofness can tie into bpd, and here it definitely does due to his poor relationship with his father, and with the rumours surrounding his paternity in new eden.

while bpd does not inherently make people manipulative, manipulation of others is often something those with bpd adopt as a coping mechanism to manage their unstable relationships or unstable self image. ethan has adopted this trait in some ways and this is definitely one of them. he does not trust the people of new eden, and knows they wont listen to him fully. this is his main motivator for keeping his plan secret.

the fact that ethan feels he has to act a certain way when he’s the leader of new eden further contributes to his unstable self realization. he puts on different fronts to different people to try and both please them and protect himself.

when he says “they will at last understand that i am their prophet…”, this is in part because he feels he’s worked hard to be the inheritor of new eden. he’s not only joseph’s son (and even if he doesn’t like joseph he wants to be recognized as his biological son, making the rumours about his paternity even more hurtful) but he’s been a successful leader as far as we can tell. to think he will lose it all over a book is damn near panic inducing for ethan. well this is in part a kind of arrogance, it’s fueled by his extreme emotions/mood swings as well as how closely he ties his identity to his position within his community. because his self image is so unstable, threats to that cause him to act in ways that may seem irrational or extreme in order to try and protect his self image. also, ethan will only help the captain in exchange for something in part bc of his suspicion of others. he doesn’t want to offer new eden’s archers and resources without knowing that he will benefit in return. after all, if something goes wrong in new eden bc of this outsider and he allowed it, it’s his responsibility to take the blame and fix it.

5:20 - into the bliss

theres not much in this scene to tie to his bpd. one line i think is important though: “bring me proof of my fathers death and i will make sure you are remembered as a friend of the prophet��. well this can be interpreted as ethan saying to kill joseph, i dont think he is. ethan believes joseph is long gone, that he could never survive all alone for this long. ethan isn’t evil, he’s not asking someone to commit murder, he’s asking them to confirm that someone is already dead. sure, he’s self serving and he wants something in return for his allyship, but to him this is how he can ensure a fair trade, and that an outsider won’t take advantage of him or new eden as easily.

14:18 - ethan, interrupted

ethan’s big speech where joseph fuckin crashes it. at first, he literally does not even see joseph in the crowd. he truly believes he’s dead and that the captain will bring back proof of this. to him, adherence to his rule makes sense; he’s the leader, and things need to change. it is arrogant, because ethan has partially internalized a sense of superiority and entitlement because of his position as joseph’s son, and now heir to the rulership of new eden (he thinks). this combined with an unstable self esteem and self image makes him want total compliance to his rule. criticism, disobedience, they threaten his self worth and that can send him into an emotional spiral or severe mood swing. so, to try and avoid the negative consequences he experiences from perceived slights and rejections, he wants a clean slate and total adherence to his new rules.

when he actually sees joseph, he stops, stammers, and says “father?”. not the father. just father. in this moment, his father who abandoned him (who went out for smokes and never came back) has suddenly shown up in the middle of his speech about him being dead. his arm drops and he stands there, stunned and speechless. his first question is “where have you been?”. he wants to know why and he asks why. why did his father abandon them? abandon him? the answer is completely meaningless to him. it’s basic, it has no detail, and isn’t sufficient. he’s speechless again for a bit, breathing heavier and hyperventilating. he steps away from joseph. when joseph calls the captain god’s sword, ethan damn near does a double take. he’s literally standing in his father’s shadow while he exalts an outsider in front of his own son, after interrupting his speech and embarrassing him in front of everyone.

one of ethan’s symptoms is his overvaluing and undervaluing people in his life. this is when he switches from overvaluing the captain, putting too much faith and hope into them, to undervaluing and practically hating them. his relationship with his father is tenuous, and rocky. it is characterized by ethan’s intense desire to be josephs successor and publicly recognized as his son. ethan even calls out to joseph, upset about the fact that hes now suddenly and publicly being dethroned; joseph doesnt even look back at him. ethan rejects josephs words in anger. he has a sudden outburst in front of the crowd; yet another sudden spike in his emotions from a stressful situation causes him to say what he’s really thinking. “you abandoned me. you abandoned us.” ethan says joseph didn’t leave instructions or a message, just left ethan to lead with no idea how. he does the best job he can under these extreme circumstances, and now all of his hard work is for nothing. that would make even the most level headed neurotypical person upset. whenn ethan starts to lose the support of new eden, he breaks down a bit. the anchor of his self image has been completely ripped away from him in a moment. he storms off partially and his body language is pretty dire; head down, shoulders moving sharply like he’s breathing harshly, and then he turns to watch the crowd walk away from him. imo, part of why ethan doesn’t completely lose it in this scene is that he might be partially dissociating or beginning to dissociate or experience some de-realization from the sudden, acute emotional distress this moment causes for him.

17:45 - ethan’s response

this is when ethan says that the captain betrayed him. they had a deal. he completely put his trust into the captain, idealizing them as the person who could solve his problems, only for them to bring joseph back and make everything in ethans life worse. now, the pendulum swings to the other side where ethan begins to loathe the captain. saying that the captain should have killed joseph themselves is an expression of 1) the intense reactions people with bpd can have to certain situations and 2) his skewed logic because of it. what seems totally irrational to someone else might seem like the only logical solution to a problem for someone with bpd. the stress of such a painful, emotionally charged situation like this one. he never wants to see the captain again; on a dime he flips, from putting all of his trust and hope into one person to saying he never wants to see them again and that they betrayed him. this quick switch of very intense perceptions of others is a cycle of idealization and undervaluing that people with bpd may experience.

18:07 - ethan’s prayer letter

in this letter, ethan discusses how he feels he hates his father for the abandonment; how joseph “expected everything and gave nothing”, how ethan never got to really have joseph as a father for himself because he was too busy being THE father. he says wrath and envy grip him tight to the point he feels he can’t breathe. this is definitely indicative of ethans mood swings and intense emotions, especially the irrational anger and aggression many people with bpd can have. then, he says nobody but himself, his mother, and god can know about how he feels, and that he must put on a front for new eden and be a leader to them “no matter what”. this is absolutely something i can see being tied to his bpd. he is aware that expressing his thoughts, feelings, and reactions to others would probably get a negative reaction. he seeks to avoid that, as well as to avoid the judgment from others he thinks he would get. his unstable self image is complicated by the fact that he feels obligated to hide the symptoms of his illness, and pretend to be someone he isn’t. this only makes it worse, as he ties his social and therefore individual identity to “ruler of new eden”. he relies very much on the responses and reactions of others to gauge whether or not he seems “normal” or capable of doing his job.

18:27 - npc dialogue

ethan says that josephs followers see the prophecy coming to light, but ethan sees it as a chance for new eden to make its own path. this is also when ethan says that he is josephs biological son, and that his mother raised him outside of hope county and brought him there when he was young to be raised by joseph. she died from an illness on their journey. this is some pretty significant baggage for ethan. he wants new eden, and himself, to become independent. the only reason he stays in new eden is because of his mother. he loves her, and idealizes her in a way that never flips to undervaluing because the relationship is one sided since her passing.

19:23 - megan’s letter to joseph

this is important just bc it states megan raised ethan as a non believer but after the collapse taught him about joseph’s word. this is important for ethan because it means he had to relearn some pretty significant things after the apocalypse, including a whole new religion and worldview. this can be very confusing for a child, and in part explains why ethan isn’t totally on board with josephs word, or the all of new eden’s beliefs surrounding him; his earliest formative years had nothing to do with joseph seed or prophets or collapses. he had to convert, and did so as a child who couldn’t really understand or make that choice for himself. he is tied to new eden solely because of megan, and without her wish to have him be josephs heir, he would’ve left long ago.

20:08 - intermission/flashback

this is when we see a young babby ethan get nasty with joseph. this is an early sign of his bpd developing. he has an intense reaction and says something very hurtful to his father over not getting what he wants, which isn’t just the apple but his father’s approval. to him, this is another rejection by joseph, or it is perceived that way by a young ethan. constantly being told something wasn’t gods plan, or it isn’t part of a prophecy without further explanation was confusing and frustrating for ethan growing up. he wanted the apple to be like his father; he wanted the apple to feel integrated into his community like the others who were given the gift. this denial, one that is permanent and leaves no room for ethan to change or grow and become capable of handling its strength leaves him feeling defeated and angry. his reaction of “you are an old man, and when you die i will take one” shows a very quick emotional shift and a shift from idolizing his father and wanting to be like him to practically hating him, becoming cold and distant in mere moments.

21:16 - joseph’s worry

“ethan’s sin is pride. there is something deep inside him that no word of mine can touch. i worry that now as an outsider appears to take his place that beast will feed on resentment and grow stronger. ” YEAH ITS BPD YA DINGUS fdpgpfd but more seriously, ethans pride is a coping mechanism to deal with his ever changing self image and self worth. its a rigid barrier to keep others from knowing how weak he really feels, and how uncertain he is of himself.

23:25 - ethan’s betrayal

this is where ethan betrays new eden and sets them up so the highwaymen can destroy the settlement. he tolerates the highwaymen laughing at him only so he can get what he wants: revenge. this extreme response is from his bpd. his impulsive anger, and the extremes his mind goes to won out and he acted on his violent thoughts.

26:26 - ethan and the fruit

when joseph asks ethan what hes done (referring to betraying new eden), ethan says: “i did what i had to do. i freed myself, i freed us all from you, from your rules.”. to ethan this was logical. this was something he had to do. he didn’t take pleasure in it, he didn’t go into new eden and kill everyone himself. no, he handed them over to the highwaymen in a desperate, out of touch moment. the spark was there and his disorder was gasoline that helped the flames to spread. he reacted intensely, out of irrationally extreme anger, towards an entire group of people he had shifted to undervaluing. he felt betrayed so he returned in kind, but no matter how wrong that was ethan couldnt see it.

“i will have what you denied me. you gave it to an outsider but you wouldn’t give it to me. i am your flesh and blood” and explosively tells joseph he doesnt know gods will. he lashes out against his father, arguing with him and rebelling directly by taking the one thing joseph kept him from that he truly wanted. to ethan, in my hc, the apple is more than just power and more than just something he covets. its a symbol of joseph’s fatherhood, of his love; he gave it to everyone but ethan, his own son, and now he would take what he wanted from life with or without josephs input.

31:08 - the death of ethan seed

the first thing ethan says after he sees joseph is “father… i’m sorry”. he’s scared. he knows he’s going to die. he asks if joseph can forgive him. he knows he’s fucked up, obviously, not just by eating the apple but by betraying new eden. his last word is “father”. no matter how torn his relationship was with joseph, he wanted his father’s love. he wanted connection with his father. he wanted to feel validated, have his identity confirmed, even in his last moments.

#hc #repost from old blog

3 notes · View notes

fae-fucker · 4 years

Text

Zenith: Chapter 52-55

Chapter 52

Valen interrogates Andi about his father’s decision to make her his rescuer, and instead of going “take that up with your dad because I don’t know his reasons for doing this,” Andi tries to be all apologetic about all the Kalee stuff and saying how she’s changed and Valen’s like nu-uh!

“It was a mistake,” Andi said again. “If I could take it back—”

Valen gritted his teeth. “Murder isn’t a mistake.”

Have I finally gone off the deep end or is this fucking funny?

“If I recall, you were the one who allowed your little sister and her friend to sneak out for a joyride on your father’s brand-new transport,” Andi replied. Her words were soft and casual, but her eyes were on fire.

“Spectre,” Valen said. “Spectre first, and always. You failed her as that.”

“Again,” Andi said, “it was a mistake. I’ve had to live with the cost of it.”

“Kalee didn’t!” Valen screamed. “She didn’t get to live, Androma!”

It’s honestly impressive that whenever I go into a chapter that’s relatively short and think it’s gonna be fine and I’ll just skim over it, Shinsay proves me wrong by including more bullshit that I just have to talk about. But hey, part of the reason I have this blog is so that people know what not to do and examining why certain things just don’t work, with the added bonus of having the context for it.

It’s also impressive how two women somehow keep making the wrong choice for the same one book, over and over and over. Every narrative choice in this book is wrong.

So, what’s wrong with this particular bit? Remember when Dex and Andi were having their stupid argument and Dex, right after trying to apologize for what he did and explain himself, turned around and started blaming Androma for it instead? Here it’s even more jarring, because Andi genuinely believes she was to blame for Kalee’s death and genuinely wants to atone (or she claims to want that, at least). So when she, out of nowhere, starts trying to defend herself and shift the blame onto Valen? That shit don’t make no sense, y’all.

I think this is a result of the book having too many pointless POVs. We’re in Valen’s right now, so obviously he needs emotional triggers to react to and start monologuing over. He needs to be provoked and damn logic and character consistency, he’s gonna get provoked! Andi’s words make no sense and will not be examined closer once we’re back in her POV, she just said this OOC shit for the sake of drama, yet given everyone’s awful characterization, even small things like these serve only to undermine the characters and their motivations even further.

Shinsay don’t understand that sometimes, no arguments is far more impactful than a dramatic verbal battle of cheap witticisms. Instead of this, Andi could’ve just sat there, quietly, letting Valen dunk on her because she feels she deserves it. Hell, this entire conversation could’ve been saved if only Andi’s blame-shifting line had been given to someone else! I didn’t even read it as her saying it at first and had to double-check and that’s when it fell apart to me.

God, I could go on like this forever. Feel free to send me asks if you want me to elaborate on dialogue and characterization, I guess? Let’s just move on.

The others try to figure out how Valen was taken and what happened when he was, asking him if he knows anything about Queen Nor, at which point Rage Unlocks Within Him, and he gets up and leaves.

I also want to mention that Valen talks about “things being tense after Kalee was gone,” but Kalee’s been dead for four years, while Valen was taken two years ago. Sooo uh ... huh? He makes it sound like it was two months after and not two years. He could’ve said things “changed” after her death and it would’ve sounded better. Idk just a preference I guess.

Also ... I just realized Valen’s been missing and tortured for two years. How he still talks normally is ... pretty bonkers, to say the least.

Chapter 53

Andi goes out to find Valen but finds Lon instead, his blue tiddies out.

Lon leads Andi to where Valen is, all while dropping hints that Lira has something to say to Andi and that Andi shouldn’t try to influence her decision. To her credit, Andi says she won’t, and that she loves Lira as her sister.

Andi and Valen sit around in nature for a bit and talk about Valen’s art. I don’t hate it?

“When I was locked up, I almost forgot what colors looked like,” [Valen] said, lazily brushing the stick back and forth against the mud. “Did you know that black is more than just a single shade?”

Anish Kapoor would like to know your location.

Valen says he can’t forgive Andi for what she did, but he can also not forgive himself for being part of those choices(????). Andi speculates that her accusation earlier must’ve struck him deep, but that’s all we get on that, no explanation as to why she accused him at all.

“In Lunamere, I had nothing to keep me company but my pain and my thoughts. I had lots of time to think about that night, and everything leading up to it. Time to realize that we were raised in a society where perfection is the only option. But that doesn’t mean it’s always possible. We all made bad choices that night, not just you. She got on that transport herself. And I chose to stay behind.”

Andi wanted to speak, but she feared it would shatter this strange, heart-wrenching moment they had somehow found themselves in.

Thanks for telling me it’s heart-wrenching, lest my idiot self got lost in all this emotion and forgot to realize what was happening.

Christ, even when Shinsay have a decent dramatic and emotional moment going, they just can’t keep their grubby little hands to themselves, huh? I know it’s your book but can you shut the fuck up for a moment and just let the prose stand on its own?

God, if only there had been an editor.

Both Andi and Valen admit they wish they’d died with Kalee and in any other more competent book this would’ve been quite touching.

“Without Kalee...” Andi began, finally voicing the realization she’d come to terms with these past few days. “Without Kalee, there wouldn’t have been a sentence for me to run from. And without that running, I never would have found Dex. And without him...”

“You wouldn’t be the Bloody Baroness,” Valen finished for her. “My father would not have hired you.”

It was a vicious cycle, one that Andi wished she could have undone before it had ever started. But it was her story. Her life.

Her life is a series of reactions to things outside of her control? Love that for a protagonist.

Listen, I know it’s supposed to be sad and stuff, but even Andi’s backstory reinforces her reactionary personality and the way the plot is driven by things completely outside of her control. It’s hard to feel invested in a character when they never make choices and instead only react to whatever happens to them.

Anyway, Valen and Andi seem to have gotten over their differences and go to the festival together. That was easy. I guess it’s to throw us off the scent and make it more surprising when he suddenly turns out to be evil? I’m honestly not sure. It’s pretty bad either way, but I don’t have to tell you that.

Chapter 54

We’re with Lira again and she’s staring off into the distance thinking about the festival. Lon appears again, tiddies still out, but now his muscles and “sculpted” chest feels kind of weird to comment on since we’re in Lira’s head? Whatever, maybe Adhirans are weird like that.

Lon says some cutesy shit about how technically Lira is this planet’s princess but she doesn’t reply or even think about how that would make him the prince? He just says he’s her brother and has to guard her. Maybe Adhirans also don’t let men have political power because that’s what Shinsay think feminism is.

Anyway, they join the other girls and head to the festival while Lira mopes about her decision and how she can’t have two families. Except you can. But whatever. Logic isn’t dramatic enough, I suppose.

“It’s time to let loose,” Breck said. “Lir, you look like you’ve just puked up a pound of Moon Chew.”

“Lira doesn’t puke,” Gilly said.

“That’s ridiculous. Everyone pukes,” Breck added.

“I’ve never seen her do it. And I spy on her, like, all the time.”

Lon chuckled beside Lira. “I see it,” he whispered. “What draws you to this crew.”

I don’t.

Also they’re in the same close space it seems, so I have no idea how they 1) don’t bother to ask Lira what’s going on and 2) don’t notice Lon being all whispery and shit. Convenient!

Gonna gloss over the spying bit as well, I see. Hey, they do have those eye implants that you don’t need consent to activate. Maybe Gilly’s been using it to perv on the rest of the crew.

Lira decides ... not to decide, and just fuckin party down for tonight. I guess in this universe it means she’s gonna get blackout wasted, because That’s What Adults Do. I should also mention that she decides not to decide and then never has to decide anyway because the plot intervenes and the choice is made for her. Love that for a character.

*sigh*

Chapter 55

We’re in Dex’s POV and we get some decent descriptions of how cool the festival is with more incidental aliens and traditions. Dex spots the crew and thinks about how they’re his crew now and realizes he’s bonded with them. I’m glad this is spelled out because I would not have noticed it myself, and frankly I both do and don’t mean it this time.

They’ve only been together for a couple of days, tops. I guess extreme situations make people bond faster but I really feel like we’re jumping the shark here. At the same time I can tell that Dex clearly fits into the crew pretty well, and this just feels forced and redundant. All in all, this comment is just unnecessary. Let the characters evolve and grow closer naturally, Shinsay. You don’t need to convince us they’re a crew, you can just show us and we’ll believe it!

Dex spots Valen and Andi and of course we get a horny description of how cool and sexy Andi is and how impressed Dex is that she and Valen are already friends. Then he decides to get drunk and eat some meat.

Frankly? Relatable. Chapter? Pointless.

#eff reads: zenith

7 notes · View notes

ganymedesclock · 6 years

Note

what do you think of the general assumption by fans that lotor is a genocidal fascist? it's so beyond me, honestly. this is a man who actively opposes the empire and its ways, kills elites within it, despises his father, and was (likely) exiled BECAUSE of this opposition. the same people who lump him in with the empire's ways are always the ones who think he wants zarkon's love or don't understand his plans (ie, him attacking a galra base, etc) i am just. tired.

I think it’s a combination of things?

I think that one of the big things that I’ve seen to seem is that Lotor is characterized as deceptive and a liar. His first scene, him seeming to court the empire’s elite and his father’s viewpoint, is a complete farce as we see him sort of joking about as soon as their back is turned.

The feeling I get is that sometimes viewers felt like Lotor was also maliciously lying to them, by putting up this noble front and then turning out to be a manipulator. Which, when we see Lotor misleading one audience, it’s fair to question what we see him telling other people. But that does seem to be a fundamental misunderstanding of Lotor’s… well, just about everything about him.

With that in mind, this turned into an analysis of Changing Of The Guard/S3e1, Lotor’s debut episode and how it characterized him. It’s gonna get long, partially because I’m putting some direct transcripts in there.

I’m going to spend a lot of this looking at Throk. Throk and his friend discussing Lotor tells us something very major. It establishes, from the start, that Lotor is considered completely unacceptable by the commanding elite. After all, Throk isn’t just idly discussing this, he’s trying to recruit his friend to a movement that according to him, already has a lot of momentum within the commanding elite. Throk was just the figurehead of what most of the commanders intended for Lotor.

Lotor is introduced, and characterized, heavily by his first confrontation with Throk. So with that in mind, I’m gonna go over s3e1 for a bit and talk about Lotor and Throk, how Throk is characterized and how he and Lotor play off each other.

Throk first appears in s3e1, established by name and as an imperial commander in his brief conversation with Haggar. We see that he’s lurking in a hallway, having seemingly waited for her to leave Zarkon’s bedchamber before he approached.

Throk and Haggar’s exact dialogue- Throk is bold, Haggar is italicized.

Excuse me.

What is it, Commander Throk?

Would it be possible to speak to Zarkon today? Another planet was lost to rebellion and I feel he must be informed.

Zarkon is fully briefed on all imperial matters. He certainly doesn’t need your input.

*Of course. It is just that I fear if we do not take decisive action soon, the Empire will crumble completely. Rebel activity should be crushed with our full might before more planets are inspired to fight against us.

This is the first sign we’ve seen that the paladins’ exploits in the first two seasons are actually starting to turn the tide. Their rebellion is growing in size, a genuine threat, and aristocrats like Throk whose power and affluence is built on this conquest are starting to sweat.

Throk sees the rebellion as an eyesore and a problem, and he wants to eradicate it entirely. Implicitly, by making a bloody display out of planets like Puig, these early coalition planets, he intends to strike terror into any who might be yet on the fence. His concern isn’t so obviously on the absence of Zarkon as much as the absence of leadership around which the empire can rally to act.

This is noteworthy, because despite being about average rank for an elite (Commander, not General) Throk is a networker. His later conversation with his friend establishes that he’s dangerously fond of the buddy system and his preferred method of operation is uniting individual commanders into large and deadly fleets- incidentally something his DotU incarnation was also fond of given his hand in the Fleet of Doom.

Haggar snaps back, and this is the first time that Lotor is brought up after Haggar sent for him in s2:

Lotor has arrived at headquarters at Zarkon’s request to take command of the empire. Under Zarkon’s guidance, of course.

Lotor? Why is he not at his father’s bedside?

Zarkon needs no one at his bedside, least of all you.

So this tells us some very interesting things about Lotor, if we don’t look at all at his prior continuities, and just take this as our new introduction to a character.

The first thing we hear is that while Haggar sent for the prince to put him in power, she doesn’t intend to actually give him free reign. “Under Zarkon’s guidance, of course”, when we know that Zarkon would be one hell of a backseat driver. Lotor functionally wouldn’t be in power with Zarkon breathing over his shoulder, or Haggar acting in that alleged advising role.

Throk’s reply is also surprising because the empire’s been established as very warlike, conquering, and… sort of fantastical space-orc to our sensibilities. But this one question is something actually… reasonable.

It implies first and foremost that Lotor is young, not expected to take up the mantle as a soldier, much less a leader of soldiers, yet. Instead, the social expectation to galran sensibility is that Lotor should be tending to his ailing father.

Which Haggar practically snarls at, before pulling what, for her, is the equivalent of storming out of the conversation. Throk glares at her retreating back, then departs himself.

The camera pulls back from both of them leaving, towards an empty corner that it directed itself towards earlier- the corner was featured heavily when Throk began with “of course”- I put an asterisk there for convenience.

But here, returning to the corner, we’re revealed why it was given camera focus earlier: it’s not empty, but occupied by an orange-complected individual in blue and black armor, who was concealing herself. She drops her cloaking, watches Throk go, and then smiles, offering a succinct, thoughtful “hmm” before disappearing once again.

An astute observer will recognize a lot of the cut of Ezor’s armor here at first glance, because of its obvious similarity to that of the mysterious galra gunner in s2e9. Acxa in that episode was characterized heavily as something new and distinct from the empire’s usual tactics and personnel- Acxa wasn’t friendly to Voltron, but had no real animosity towards them, she worked with Keith and Hunk only to rob them at the last minute, making as she did an ambiguous gesture that she could shoot Keith, but was abstaining, even after she’d gotten what she wanted.

The “Weblum Galra” fascinated me personally back in s2, because of this being established as not quite friend or foe, but somewhere in between, and someone who smacks very powerfully of an obvious agenda. This first glance at Ezor is a very similar setup. She’s watching, observing, eavesdropping, and immediately pegs as a little dangerous- if she has the ability to sneak past Haggar unobserved, what if our heroes have to fight her? And what’s that knowing expression, what’s she up to? We get no answers, and the scene keeps rolling.

The next time we get back to Throk, it’s the arena. Focus is given to the large, sort of lion-like warrior fighting, and we see very little of his masked, sword-wielding opponent, just small glimpses while Throk and his friend discuss. However, we do see him casually spinning his sword in one-hand before the camera moves to Throk.

Once again, Throk is in bold, and I’ve put asterisks where we catch glimpses of the anonymous gladiator.

I tried to speak with Lord Zarkon today, but the witch stopped me again.

I fear the emperor’s condition may be worse than she is telling us. *I’m not sure he will ever return to the throne.

Some context for Haggar’s testiness in the prior scene, and also, this gentleman Throk is speaking to- he is clearly a likeminded conspirator. Again, already we see Throk is not acting alone, but in empathy with other commanders.

In the arena, we see the large warrior making swipes and strikes while Lotor tumbles around and behind them.

Agreed. And now Prince Lotor is taking over? We’ve fought by Zarkon’s side forever, and now we are passed over by this exiled brat.

This is gonna get its own observation, since it tells us a lot. Throk is old guard, he’s had a long tenure of duty, and he prides himself on his closeness to Zarkon, his ideals. The people that he is allied with and representing, speaking for, feel the same way. He boldly and confidently uses “we”, assuming that his friend will feel the same, and assuming correctly.

Lotor is conversely, not in good graces- clearly why Haggar intends to have someone look over his shoulder. He’s also younger, and seemingly has had a much shorter term of duty than Throk (interesting as we later discover Lotor has knowledge of ten thousand years ago, but, he is very much not treated as a constant to the empire the way Zarkon is)

Lotor is absent this line and the next few, but we can hear blades ringing off each other, reminding us of the fight that they’re watching. And now we get into the really interesting exchange:

I’ve heard rumors he fights alongside his enlisted men like a lowly private.

Worse than that, his top generals aren’t even pure Galra. They’re half-breeds at best. He has no honor.

Some say * he allows the planets he conquers to continue to rule themselves. Can you imagine?

Clearly he’s a dangerous lunatic.

This is the moneymaker. And fittingly, this is our clearest shot at Lotor before we know that’s who he is- he actively jumps into the foreground, retreating from his unseen enemy.

Lotor is unacceptable to the empire’s elite, and here we see why they seem to hate him, and probably why he’s in Zarkon’s poor graces. This is also the point where someone watching carefully might pick up a suspicion- the very unusual but somewhat galra-looking woman we saw eavesdropping on Throk earlier, and how much her armor resembles the gladiator in the ring- and Lotor, who allegedly already arrived but is nowhere to be seen, with his half-galra top generals.

But let’s look at the things Throk and his friend are exchanging looks of revulsion and horror over the very idea of:

Lotor wants to work with colonized planets and keep local leaders in power. This would seem part of a larger lack of disdain for non-galra sentient races, since he employs, and promotes to high positions, mixed race galra. The language Throk and his friend uses, “half-breeds”, tells us that’s not a small thing- even if we haven’t explicitly heard it before, the empire clearly has a pretty major hangup on perceived racial superiority. It explains the vicious inhumanity so many of them direct prisoners and slaves.

But we as an audience are perking our ears up. Because if these are the core mechanisms behind the empire’s inhumanity, Lotor is sounding very… humane. Empathetic. Reasonable. He sounds kind, in a context where we’ve seen Zarkon spurn and violently punish kindness since s1e1. Directing his opponents, and his own subordinates, a kind of camaraderie and respect. What we would call an honorable warrior- what Throk and his friend call disgusting.

Lotor is a pariah for his worldview and attitudes, a worldview surprisingly close to our heroes. And this is when Throk decides to drop that he doesn’t intend to merely sit by and complain about how “improper” Lotor is.

I’ve already spoken with the other officers in my sector. They’ve all agreed to back me if I fight for the throne. Normally I would never think of such a thing, but…

What choice do we have?

Then you’ll support me?

Yes.

It’s worth noting some very interesting body language here, and us not seeing any glimpse of Lotor or the arena. Throk, for this entire part of the exchange, stares straight ahead with an impassive face, speaking calmly. His friend, when he realizes what Throk is suggesting, stiffens, and looks around, before lowering his head to deliver his answer.

Throk is a networker and we’re beginning to realize a dangerous one. This wasn’t just idle bellyaching, he’s been actively planning a coup. The “we” he speaks for has decided Lotor is going to be disposed of, most likely killed- he’s unacceptable.

And this is reflected by his friend- “What choice do we have?” as if Lotor, by his inclination for negotiation and empathy, is going to personally bring the plague upon their houses. Further telling us this elite is built on the backbone of cruelty, that they’re threatened by falling under leadership that won’t encourage dominating and subjugating.

Throk flashes the camera a very threatening toothy grin, and this is when his friend’s attention turns to the figure in the arena- the one we’ve been ignoring.

Who’s this little fellow?

I don’t know, I’ve never seen him before.

Important business is done, let’s talk about the bloodsports. Implicitly, they recognize or don’t care about the larger figure- the smaller one catches their eye, because, well, he’s small. And new. How unusual. The camera zooms in on him, and we see what we’ve been seeing before.

He’s agile, fleet-footed, evasive, making precise dodges of his opponent’s weapon and has been this entire time. Some of the moves are rather flashy, suggesting confidence rather than a fearful prisoner. His opponent loses track of him, and then we see him sweep in and launch a single attack, sending his opponent’s weapon flying and his opponent to the ground. It’s unclear if fatally or not. The crowd goes wild.

And then he plants his sword in the ground, to his audience’s confusion, and… takes his helmet off.

Lotor!

Here is our first characterization of Lotor speaking for himself, and holy shit is it a departure from Zarkon. Our “little fellow” actively exploited the commanders’ expectations and in returning to the headquarters, rather than any bold or dramatic entrance he could have made to try and catch people’s attention and support, he functionally snuck on board and into the ring as a silent gladiator.

And for good reason- rumors of his behavior and ethics got ahead of him, and Throk and twenty of his closest friends are already planning to reenact Julius Caesar.

Lotor’s dramatic face-revealing turn is pointed directly at Throk, who, a second later, he picks up his sword and points it directly at.

Throk. You wish to challenge me? Then come down and claim your crown. True galra do not take the throne by stirring up insurrection in darkened chambers. They rise through honorable rite of combat. Defeat me here, and the throne is yours.

This is the second brilliant fuck-you Lotor pulls in many regards. First: it’s never a good thing for your covert movement if your intended target calls you out in front of a live audience before you’ve even made a move.

Second, considering everything that motivates Throk and his conspirators to act against Lotor is his being culturally unacceptable, he’s manipulated Throk, using his own allies, into a very nasty bind.

Victory By Conquest is a VERY fundamental galra attitude, one we saw given lip service all the way back in s1e1 by Sendak. Throk knows better than to rely exclusively on direct conflict- he works with allies and plans things out ahead of time.

Lotor, however, is pretty much doing the social equivalent of dragging Throk into the ring by the scruff of his neck. All of Throk’s allies, everyone backing him, want to see their guy kick this smug little brat’s teeth in on live television. And it’s going to look really bad if Throk does the good tactical thing and refuses Lotor’s challenge- because Lotor’s tiny and pathetic-looking so he can’t possibly pose a threat to Throk, was Throk’s coup just talk?

So Lotor is both unacceptable to the empire, and not obliviously. He knows perfectly well exactly what the empire values, and how to play it to his advantage. However, he doesn’t use this to curry favor- rather, he uses it to hobble Throk.

In these scenes, we see Lotor’s expression- completely smug- and Throk’s- angry and uncomfortable- but a lot of the crowd, whispering, cheering. Lotor, as a pariah to the empire that most of them wanted to see taken down, nonetheless was able to masterfully leverage widespread social pressure to get Throk to proceed in a certain manner.

Throk has really only one answer he can give, and he knows it.

However, before he gives it- we see something else.

The Generals take the stage.

See this I think is a pretty underrated piece of psychological warfare. You have to consider these are patently obviously Lotor’s half-galra generals- the ones Throk was speaking poorly of seconds ago. The ones that Lotor is out of his mind for employing. The ones who, disdainful sniff, could never possibly measure up to real galra.

They heard everything he said about him. And now he’s surrounded by them.

They don’t have to do anything, and they don’t really. The takeaway is still incredible. This is akin to a white supremacist mouthing off in his favorite bar over a football game only to have the new bartender lean over and go “Oh, really?” and then he’s suddenly surrounded by surly, armed, black hijabi women.

The message is clear. Lotor’s taken control of this context. Throk isn’t safe hanging back or hiding behind anybody. Not only do they have him, they have evidence on him. Throk isn’t the only one with friends, and with how dramatically Lotor stepped up on Throk, none of Throk’s buddies are going to step up to support him.

Throk’s been had, and his expression tells us he knows that.

I gladly accept your offer. Now all will see who is the rightful leader.

Lotor, conversely, is untroubled, serene, cheerful. Throk is trying to threaten him, but stepping right to the beat of his drum.

When Throk steps into the arena, he does so with a large weapon, and bragging once again, about his age and superior experience.

I have fought thousands of battles, and left many enemies much more fearsome than you wasting on the battlefields.

Again, we’re reminded of what Throk takes pride in. Victory or Death. The good old galra way, violence and subjugation. He has murdered, he has destroyed, and he is proud of it. He wants to strike fear into Lotor’s heart. That Lotor is “a brat” to him and not someone who should be a soldier at all is no concern because Lotor’s a political rival. This is the very same attitude Haxus set about trying to murder the fifteen-year-old Pidge with, and it’s likely Lotor’s maybe two or three years older- pocket change to someone like Throk who is probably in his forties or fifties.

And Throk’s opening attack is a leaping swing from the top down, intending to, if it had not been parried, split Lotor’s head open. He makes a very violent flurry of strikes, while Lotor hangs back. Once again, as he did with his initial opponent, Lotor almost doesn’t attack at all, parrying and retreating and maneuvering.

This is something big here- Lotor is characterized heavily through these opening fights as not the person who attacks first. He could easily have seemed that way if we didn’t follow Throk the entire time initially, if we didn’t hear Throk launch an absolute rain of dismissal and insult on how pathetic and inferior he sees Lotor.

At one point, Lotor stops parrying, and instead simply maneuvers past Throk. One of their clashes clips a few strands of Lotor’s hair. But he’s never concerned.

You have flawless technique, that I’ll grant you. Still, you must realize at some point that your repetitive attacks are getting you nowhere.

And this is another big line to me. Because it continues the established trend here: that Lotor’s breaking with basically every single pattern set by the empire.

Because what has the empire done, for the past two seasons? Attack, attack, attack. Victory or death. If your enemy is evading you hit them harder. And at this point, they’re starting to lose.

Lotor isn’t concerned by this. He doesn’t care that the empire’s crumbling. This is the start of an ongoing thread with his character that he pretty much refuses to play this game- he doesn’t attack the rebel planets outside of the one time he has a reason to- the next episode after this, at Puig- and even then, he leaves Puig pristine, untouched, with a couple of bruises to remember him by but nothing else, and still actively a coalition planet.

None of what Lotor’s talking up, what Throk accuses him of, at this point, is act. It is quintessentially Lotor’s character to go “Look at this. None of this is getting you results. None of this is doing you good. It’s useless, so you should stop. Change tactics.”

It’s something a warrior like Throk, who has been culturally indoctrinated from the cradle to never retreat, never surrender, never compromise, but continue pushing until you destroy your perceived enemies, finds infuriating.

And once again- once Throk rushes a second time, burnt out from his first flurry, Lotor launches his own attack. Four strikes, locking blades with Throk on the last strike, and then he uses his free hand to punch Throk in the stomach, making him flinch- and in that instant outmaneuvers Throk and disarms him with the fifth strike, hacking his weapon in half and dropping him to the ground.

Just like his fight against the larger gladiator, Lotor waits until the perfect window to go for the kill. He lets his opponent exhaust themselves fighting someone else, and then springs on them.

Then, Lotor spares Throk, and drops this line:

Your tactics are stale. And in the end, your own aggression is your undoing.

This is an ideological clash as much as, if not more than, it is a physical one. And Lotor here is clarifying something that will heavily color his ensuing speech.

Lotor brings change. A departure from every antagonist before him in this show. The very episode title, Changing of the Guard, and the conflict it’s mirroring in the paladins- the struggle of adapting to a very new situation without Shiro, potentially with Keith leading- tells us that.

And here, he’s making a pretty unambiguous threat.

“If you don’t change your tactics, galra empire? You’re going to die.” And what he sees as the poisons that are killing them are their refusing to adapt- thus, to negotiate with the situation- and their violent disposition.

The fact that he delivers this not as an observer, but as someone who’s holding the figurehead of Zarkon’s military elite at swordpoint, gives it another potential read.

“If you don’t change your tactics, galra empire, I’m going to kill you.”

So I think this is the point where despite Lotor being talked up as such a merciful, diplomatic person that the main empire finds him actively revolting, parts of the audience get, confused about the idea of reading him as a hero. Because Lotor’s a cheap shot artist. He doesn’t really read as an honorable soldier- he gives credit where it’s due but a moment later suckerpunches Throk in the ribs to get an advantage.

He very much has a vision of what the future is and should be, but, well... let’s get into that speech of his, shall we?

Lotor is poised to execute Throk. The crowd is chanting his name. In this instant, Lotor could conform to expectations. He could prove himself what the empire wants out of him- a strong leader, like Zarkon, who punishes insubordination violently and decisively. Follow him or be destroyed.

And it’s at this point that Lotor withdraws his weapon. The cheering dies down. Even Throk looks up in confusion. And he drops this:

My father built our empire on the bones of his enemies. But the time has come to change the old ways, and inspire not fear from those we rule, but loyalty.

We must not waste our energy fighting to keep our subjects down, but rather multiply it, by allowing those worthy to rise and join our ranks.

The universe can no longer doubt our strength.

Each ally gained only makes us stronger.

While those who stand against us, will be crushed.

So here, I think, is Lotor’s active con, singular, during this thing.

What he suggests by sparing Throk, by extending that hand to him, is that the “we” he speaks of is the empire, is the old guard, is these dissatisfied aristocrats. He’s pretending that he’s a man of the people, and by ‘the people’ he means the empire’s bluebloods who were threatened by him and his rebellious policies.

However, his earlier comment to Throk raises a lot of questions, before we ever see him leave the ring and basically react to that whole event with the “Get-a-load-of-this-guy cam”.

Again, Lotor standing there, over Throk, telling him that his attitudes are garbage and put him here at the point of Lotor’s sword? That gives a lot of context to his little speech.

“I’m bringing a revolution. I’m changing the old ways. I’m not going to follow Zarkon’s example, and I think that doing so is stupid. It’s a waste.”

“You have an opportunity to work with me. I’m giving you a taste of that now- see this guy, the guy I was fighting? The one you were all rooting for? Watch me be nice to him. We can be friends, galra empire. You can have a seat at the table with the revolution, too.”

“Or I can slit your throat. Your choice.”

That threat is veiled, subdued under the much more obvious and dramatic show of sparing Throk, because what Lotor frankly wants from these people is to get them off his back. He has an agenda and he would like some modicum of their cooperation, but he has no intention of giving them anything he wants. Ultimately, he has no intention of humoring bigots like Throk whose criticisms boil down to “I don’t like that you listen to non-galra leaders or the way that you employ half-galra”. Pleasing Throk would require throwing the Generals- the core of Lotor’s power- under the bus, and diminishing most if not all of his own values.

But Lotor still means that threat in full. Because after sparing Throk, he makes sure he’s cutting off the head of that rebellious force a different way- by giving Throk a distant, isolated post.

This is some very conflicted and nuanced messaging we’re getting here.

The first is that Lotor is, in a lot of the metrics that this show has set up, a good person. He believes in teamwork. In cooperation. In diplomacy. It’s not really a surprise that Lotor is ultimately half-Altean, because he’s operating in what we’ve been told is a very stereotypical Altean mentality. Culturally his perspective is a blend of the “old”, more cooperative galra empire, the galra empire that was part of Voltron, that maintained allies, that was an enforcer of peace rather than an imperialistic nightmare- and Altea’s culture of diplomacy, negotiation- of extending the hand first, but fighting viciously when crossed.

Lotor is noble. He has these high values, genuinely means them. He wants to bring change to this rotting, foul system that’s been ruining everybody’s lives to the past ten thousand years- radical, aggressive change. He’s the last person I’d suggest is compliant with the empire’s state of affairs, and the fact that his first onscreen moment is his carefully scheduling a foremost member of Zarkon’s old guard for a spectacular political ass-kicking should tell us that.

Lotor hates Throk. Lotor hates the “classic Galra Empire values” that Throk embodies and thumps around. Throk is a bigot, Throk is cruel, Throk is proud to be a cruel bigot, and Lotor knocks him on his butt and says “Throk? You’re terrible. Everything that just happened to you happened because you’re terrible.”

But the noble, crusading Lotor, has to compromise with the Lotor who’s keenly aware he is a teenager with four friends in the middle of nowhere, who is picking a fight with literally the single largest empire in the known universe.

And this is where we see the other side of Lotor. Lotor is a survivalist. That is to say, Lotor is a cheap shot artist.

Lotor knows he can’t fight the empire. He knows, much as he’d love to, much as there’s thinly, barely-veiled scorn dripping from “Your own aggression is your undoing”, much as he has every reason to despise all of these people who find his morals and beliefs disgusting and an embarrassment... He really has no choice but to court them at least a little.

So he sugarcoats his venomous opinions of them and serves it up as a lovely little chocolate tray. So he purports to challenge Throk in “honorable rite of combat” and then suckerpunches him mid-battle after preceding it by playing head games on him. So he files all the hard edges off his real, bitter, angry feelings for all of the empire’s bullshit and he dresses it up nicely.

And alone, with the generals- with these other socially disadvantaged people who have every reason to hate the empire as much as he does- he laughs it off, mocks the empire for believing him, and makes his move to isolate Throk.

Lotor wants to live. He wants to win. And he’s the type who’s been sitting here and biting his tongue and biding his time, living off the empire like a parasite while he keeps vainly promising the empire, and Zarkon, that he really is just trying to be a good Prince like they wanted.

But being underhanded, being calculating, lying to people and then mocking them for their belief... these are villainish traits. We’re not used to seeing idealists who are nothing so much as fountains of bitterness because of the garbage world they’ve been living in. But I think that’s exactly what Lotor is. He genuinely believes in these ideas, these causes- because otherwise a shrewd and practical person like him would never waste his time defending them, dressing them up to pass by people’s defenses, expressing such genuine and utter disgust for people who disregard them.

But he’s been living in a universe built by and ruled by Zarkon. He’s been stuck there, embedded under his father’s heel, for longer than the paladins have been a thing at all. He had a front row seat to watching every good thing about the paladins of old fall apart and frankly? He’s miserable. He’s miserable the way anybody would be in that situation but that misery turned into anger and it turned into that same kind of deep simmering anger that we see flicker out of Shiro sometimes.

This is wrong. This isn’t just there are a few bad apples, this is rotten all the way back to the orchard, back to the roots of the trees that made those apples. But Lotor hasn’t been able to do anything about it. Opportunities are bubbling to the surface for him, but they’re small, and few, and he’s spent a long time building up to this.

Seeing someone so very obviously motivated by bitterness, who empathizes with bitter people, who is full of spite and largely unafraid to hack pieces out of you whether or not you deserve it if you’re between him and the door when he needs to get out of there- is not something we’re used to. And I think because of that, and because his bitterness reads so much louder than the ideals that actively drive that bitterness, makes people see him as a villain.

And seeing him as a villain, people read him as part and parcel of the empire itself, when, ironically, if Lotor really was acceptable to the empire, not only would this entire altercation with Throk never happened, a lot of Lotor’s bitterness wouldn’t have happened. He’d be living a nice, content life, probably trusted as a commander given his connection to Zarkon, have a cozy sector of space and weight to throw around.

Instead, he’s a pariah, and one who, when given the opportunity to become really acceptable to the empire, laughs it off in private because could you imagine? Him actually meaning that olive branch he extended to Throk?

#Anonymous #voltron legendary defender #vld #Lotor #Throk #galra empire #readmore #hey have you wondered why I never do tumblr liveblogs?#this is because the b-plot of one damn episode #turned into 5000+ words #this is longer than fics I've written.#holy /shit/.

232 notes · View notes

lokgifsandmusings · 6 years

Text

Definitive Ranking of Book 1 Episodes, #10/12

10. 1x11 Skeletons in the Closet

Bending is ILLEGAL, Asami drops it like it’s hot, a wild fanservice appears, and Noatak and Tarrlok build a snowman.

*Back a month later with Starbucks and more nitpicks*

Actually, real talk: can someone explain why part of the goyim gets upset with Starbucks not being Chirstmasy enough? Because I was just in one and it looks like Rudolph threw up everywhere. What ever happened to a nice autumnal display...

No, let’s get back to definitively ranking Book 1 episodes!

And let me just say: this has been a struggle. I know logically that Book 1 is fine. Obviously it engaged me enough to watch Book 2, even if I only saw the back-half in one sitting while I was drunk. But still, like I said in my first essay on this season, it just doesn’t get any deeper, unlike the other books. Instead, you notice all the hanging threads, and tugging on them leads to...well, whatever this is.

The thing is, I purposely do these definitive rankings in reverse order so that I sound increasingly more enthused. But when I saw I’d be writing about this one, I sat staring for five minutes trying to come up with a reason as to why it was better than “The One With All The Love Triangles” or “The One Where Amon Gets Caught.” It has slightly fewer contrivances?

Okay, stepping back, this episode isn’t all that complicated, or all that bad, really. The Equalists have taken over Republic City after their carpet bombing of it (you know...for equality!), so the Krew is underground in the sewers, eatin’ street gruel and flirtin’ with the person they’re not dating 10 feet away from the person they are dating. We get a glimpse of Republic City under the Equalists, which includes the apparent outlawing of bending, coupled with a line of handcuffed and blindfolded benders being paraded before Amon to be “cleansed of their impurity.”

Iroh II sails his face into a trap, and then he, Bolin, and Asami decide to go after Hiroshi’s army of biplanes (to prevent them from doing the same to Bumi’s fleet), while Korra and Mako want to go after Amon himself. They sneak onto Air Temple Island so they can ambush him, only to find a de-bended Tarrlok locked up. He explains how he and Amon are both sons of Yakone, and they can all bloodbend any day of the year. That’s how Amon has been taking away people’s bending. Korra and Mako then decide they’re going to expose Amon as a waterbender at his Equalist rally.

Let’s leave the Noatuk truth-bomb for last, cause that’s worth digging into a bit. Character-wise, this isn’t a very strong episode for any member of the Krew. Asami finally pulls the plug on Mako, I guess, which given that he’s acting like Korra’s boyfriend anyway makes plenty of sense. So that’s something? Otherwise, the biggest moment is Korra deciding she has to go after Amon herself. Which is kind of regressive? I mean, she doesn’t really have the skills or capacity to beat the guy, and the last time she tried to seek him out to fight on her terms, she got captured and very nearly lost her bending.

Korra: Wait, I'm sorry, but I'm not going with you tomorrow.

Mako: What?

Asami: Why not?

Korra: I'm sick and tired of hiding from Amon. It's time I face him.

Iroh: That's not a good plan. We need to stick together.

Korra: I'm not waiting for him to hunt me down. My guts tell me it's time to end this, on my terms.

Iroh: Korra, this is not a mission you should be handling alone.

Don’t get me wrong: it’s totally understandable why Korra would not want to just wait for Amon to go after her, and why she feels she’s not exactly needed in this “destroy the fleet mission.” But like, isn’t the protagonist supposed to have some kind of character growth?

I know I talked about this already in my “Endgame” piece, and yes, I think overall it’s a good thing that she had plenty of space to keep growing after Book 1. It just seems strange that her solution to the Amon situation is more “well NOW I’m going to do something about it!” despite her being no more prepared to take this on. Despite her having no strategy past “ambushing” him on Air Temple Island. And guess what, even when she has more information and tries to approach it in an inventive way, she still gets her ass kicked! She still gets de-bended!

Again, this is a narrative. What is the message supposed to be in Korra pursuing this option? Are we supposed to be cheering with her? Are we supposed to agree with Iroh?

Really, it’s this episode where the backwards nature of the writing becomes clear. Bryke needed Korra and Mako pursuing Amon alone. They needed them to run into Tarrlok. They needed a way for Amon to get exposed by forcing him to waterbend. They needed Korra to get de-bended but then still airbend. None of this particularly flowed from character actions, and certainly not personalities. Shit just occurred *to* our protagonists, and that’s disappointing to think about in a story as thoughtful and intriguing as LoK.

I’m not saying that plot-points shouldn’t be planned out, btw! I’m just saying that they need to be done with respect to characterization and character journeys. Book 2 was one stumbling block after another, but that finale came together spectacularly well because the focus was on Korra’s arc. She beat Unalaq by literally tapping into the core of who she was and ripping her reality into existence. Sure there were contrivances that set it up, but we’re not talking Korra just randomly going against her own self-interest. That was Civil Wars!

Really, the emotional weight of this episode was Tarrlok’s story (and I know mileage varies there), so maybe this complaint is more along the lines of a nitpick. But it’s incredibly disappointing on a revisit to realize that Korra more or less stagnated after 1x04, with a small exception being in her attitude towards Asami (the result of exposure). Which maybe is what was behind Korra being the one to put up boundaries with Mako this episode? Mildly?

However, this also means that Korra’s most significant character development of the season was in the context of navigating the teenage dating game. And I’d be floored if that’s really what people wanted out of the Avatar franchise, or what Bryke even intended.

That’s maybe the kicker, here. This was the episode where it felt as though Bryan and Mike just had to start wrapping things up, logic-be-damned! But...wasn’t this the season where they had the most amount of time to plan?

Even a very small change could have gone a long way. A common complaint of “Endgame” is that the airbenders just showed up on stage, handcuffed. I don’t mind that it “undercut” Lin’s sacrifice (mostly because I don’t think it *did*. The point was that she was willing to do that), but I do think it felt like a total asspull when we more or less saw them get away. But what if word somehow reached the sewers (or was even intentionally delivered there) that Amon was holding the airbenders captive? Hell maybe Iroh could have brought this information. Then, that would have created a sense of urgency where it made sense for the Krew to split up, and it would have made sense for Korra and Mako to go to Air Temple Island specifically. Did they even have a way of knowing that’s where Amon was operating within this episode?

Again, writers should generally have an endpoint in mind that they write to. But it shouldn’t require contortions in logic to get there. And if you can’t think of a compelling reason for your characters to reach it...well...it’s probably time to rethink those beats, then. “Skeletons in the Closet” is an episode where just about everything that happens felt like it needed a second thought.

A perfectly good example of that is with the Equalists. In “Turning the Tides,” they bombed the entire city and captured enough benders where in this episode, they had an incredibly long line of them just waiting to be de-bended, including more policemen and White Lotus Members. The Equalists also declared bending illegal and stuck an Amon mask on Aang’s statue.

I have just...so many questions about how all this works. Like, logistically how have The Equalists actually taken over a city? I mean first of all, the crowd to whom Hiroshi announced bending being outlawed makes Trump’s inauguration look impressive.

Second of all, if we just talk about power dynamics of the universe, how does this work:

These are the SUPERPOWERED people. And the ones we’re seeing in this picture are literally trained fighters. They’ve got blindfolds on so...that’s it? Game over? No seismic-sense earthbenders? I’m not trying to victim blame here, but when you’ve got such a disparity in skill, to see these proportions of the benders to nonbenders here, with the benders doing absolutely nothing but being faceless and passive, it really pushes the envelope of believability.

Wasn’t the implication of the Equalist revolution that there actually was a revolution? That the *masses* went along with this, since they were the ones abused, ignored, and/or silenced under bender rule? Except then that makes the Equalists carpet-bombing the city even weirder, because this aftermath doesn’t seem to follow. Unless the only survivors were the people at Hiroshi’s rally.

Again, it’s the backwards writing. They needed the Equalists to have taken over, so they did. I’d totally buy the Equalists just controlling Air Temple Island and camping out there, maybe with important prisoners, but no. They successfully destroyed the United Forces and it was bad enough that their general had to retreat into the sewers and communicate his orders through Gommu.

I almost don’t even want to touch Iroh. He’s fanservice, and pretty heavy-handed fanservice at that. I really don’t care about giving people *something*, but fanservice that works is like...the picture of Aang airbend-juggling sushi rolls. It’s not some rando Mary Sue (and I truly mean a textbook Mary Sue here) showing up, ordering around our main characters to get us to the next action set-piece, and then watching him literally fly around with no explanation as he grounds Hiroshi’s fleet and saves the day.

He’s significant to us because we recognize his namesake, and because he’s voiced by Dante Basco. But just imagine if you were a viewer watching LoK without having seen ATLA. Wouldn’t this character feel incredibly odd to you? Wouldn’t you wonder why we were focusing on him at the cost of our regulars getting more time to contend with this new situation?

Like, oh I don’t know...ASAMI? I know, I know what this sounds like. At this point I’m gonna just lean into my reputation. But seriously, her FATHER just bombed the city, he’s making speeches about illegal bending, he blows up Iroh’s fleet here with inventions we didn’t know existed, they make a plan that revolves around facing head-on, and we get a single line of dialogue from her about it. Which the transcript hilariously describes as “somewhat bitterly”:

“It's time to take down my father.”

Yes, that was somewhat of a reaction. Does anyone want to check in if she’s conflicted?

Or like, Korra is apparently driven by extreme impatience now. Even though Mako says she won’t go alone, is there a reason we don’t get anyone actually challenging this or asking why she can’t help with the airfield and *then* go after Amon? Especially Mako, since he’s signing up for it, and he was the one with a slightly more cautious approach to sneaky things in 1x03?

“Hmm ... My grandfather would respect the Avatar's instinct. So will I.”

Aaaaand finally, speaking of “who are you and why are you suddenly the focal point?”, we’ve got the infamous bloodbending brothers.

Uh, so. Confession: I actually kind of like them? I mean, they ranked halfway up my list in the Definitive Ranking of Complicated Familial Dynamics, so that’s something. But really, I think their story in and of itself is fine. It’s about the futility of revenge, I guess, and there’s the poetic tragedy of the way both brothers did become instruments of their father’s plans despite the fact that they both wanted to escape that fate. Tarrlok wanted to be the city’s savior and have influence through upstanding, noble means; a clear backlash against his crime-boss father ruling from the “underbelly” through brute force. Noatak, meanwhile, truly believed that so long as people had the potential for the fighting dominance his father displayed, there could be no justice in the world. He was a bender who hated his own power, and emulated Aang’s course of action with Yakone, which somewhat ironically led him to think that he truly needed to debend Korra.

It’s a bit of flawed logic, I guess. “I’ll never become an instrument of revenge against the Avatar! Instead, I’ll apply what the Avatar did to you to *all* benders...including the Avatar!”

I guess he’s just an equal-opportunity debender who understands the symbolic importance of taking away Korra’s bending? Oh look, I made a pun.

But yeah, it’s a fine enough story, and I’m not sure we’re supposed to be viewing Amon as the world’s most balanced thinker anyway.

The problems with Amon are that the Equalist logistics don’t make much sense, as I noted, and the guy himself gleefully debending the sole survivors of genocide in the name of justice is a bit much to swallow, especially after Bryke tried to demonstrate how nonbenders really do have legitimate grievances with regards to their treatment by members of triads and law enforcement alike. Of course the puppy-kicker had to go down, and it’s kind of a shame that what was a nuanced issue was turned into something so black-and-white.

The problem with the bloodbending brothers, however, is actually one that’s kind of similar to the problem with Kuvira. Their personal stakes are entirely disconnected from Korra herself. She runs into them, and has altercations with them, and as the Avatar she has a unique symbolic and political importance. Therefore she “matters” in both of their plans, which is why Tarrlok kidnapped her (what was the long term of that, exactly?), and Amon purposely didn’t take away her bending when he first captured her. It’s similar to how Kuvira understood that Korra had an importance to the people of the Earth Kingdom and for that reason, took pleasure in knocking her down a peg after her absence for three years; but she was driven by personal reasons relating to the Beifongs.

And this is fine, by the way. I’d say LoK’s most successful antagonist was Zaheer, who again, was targeting Korra for strategic reasons, but not exactly personal ones. Not every conflict is going to be Clark Kent vs. Lex Luthor, with years of history and damage between them. I do happen to think that kind of dynamic is the most effective (Zuko and Azula, anyone?), but again, villains being motivated by something entirely external to the protagonist is absolutely fine, even if it’s their own personal familial baggage.

However, given that Book 1 tripped over itself and couldn’t actually land the beats of the main plotline, nor provide Korra with any sort of growth in its telling...having the focus on the bloodbending brothers is incredibly weird. Like, why was the creative energy put here, of all things? It’s a sad story, sure, but what does it actually mean to Korra?

Being generous, it allows her to create a plan where she exposes Amon instead of trying to brute-force the situation, but...that plan doesn’t work at all, and she wins by punching. Was this showing development in her strategic thinking? This goes back to the issue of her wanting to hunt down Amon again.

What it sort of feels like, and forgive me for saying this, is spin-off fanfic that people wrote who got interested in the villains. It’s not *bad* by any means. There’s interesting dynamics here. But it shouldn’t come at the cost of Korra’s journey, which it did. In the end, the biggest moment of the season was Tarrlok’s murder/suicide. It’s a tragic story, sure. It’s just not Korra’s. And at least with Kuvira, it was her arc that bent to suit Korra’s needs, not the other way around.

I’m pretty sure from here on out I’ll actually have some positive things to say about Book 1 episodes, don’t worry. It’s just the final chapter of the season is really where all the flaws of the storytelling came into full view, and though “Turning the Tides” arguably started that, this is the episode where the wheels came off. “Endgame” was the crash.

#12 1x12 “Endgame”

#11 1x05 “The Spirit of Competition"

1x11 photo recap found here

Book 2 ranking/essays found here

Book 4 ranking/essays found here

#book 1 ranking #lok meta #korra #yakone #equalists

43 notes · View notes

rxbxlcaptain · 7 years

Text

RxbxlCaptain’s Official Rebel Rising Review:

Since this novel was released in May, I had heard plenty of opinions -- mainly negative -- about it, so I decided to check it out for myself. I’ll be completely honest: I came into the book bracing myself against a novel that would completely ruin Jyn’s characterization and the urge to throw the book against the wall. Maybe because I came in which such horrible expectations -- Well, I didn’t hate it.

Of course, of the three Rogue One-related novels I’ve read now (Rogue One Novelization by Alexander Freed, Catalyst by James Luceno, and Rebel Rising by Beth Revis), I would say that it’s my least favorite. There were some redeeming factors, some Imperials that were actually kind of intriguing, some moments that made me go “I’m sorry, are we talking about the same Jyn Erso?” and some moments that made me go “That’s my girl!” So if you’re interested in hearing some very spoiler-y opinions of the novel, click below the cut:

My first issue with the book: It’s genre

The decided to write a book about Jyn Erso -- a woman I’d understood to have been raised as a child soldier -- as a young adult novel. Now, I have nothing against the YA genre, there’s plenty of amazing things within that genre, but... I’m questioning if it was right for this.

This leads to a significantly less violent childhood than I thought Rogue One (either the movie or the novelization) implied. Jyn doesn’t go on missions with Saw Gerrera until she’s well into her teenage years, and most of those involve coding and not actual fighting. Most of Jyn’s time with Saw is spent on Wrea, the planet where Saw’s base for the Partisans is located, learning coding and splicing. She doesn’t even stay in barracks with the other Partisans but instead has a private room to herself. No one’s gunna all favoritism on that one, Saw. But, really, the first time in the novel when Jyn shares a room with someone is when she’s in prison, which just feels... weird to me?

Another thing I have against a YA novels: There always seems to be a forced romance and this one is no exception. I’ll go into more details below, but I do, at least in part, attribute this aspect of the plot back to the fact that it’s a YA novel.

But that’s a little bit broad, so let’s narrow it down into a few more things that I did/didn’t like:

Saw Gerrera:

Read all this with the disclaimer that I have not watched Clone Wars and so my knowledge of Saw outside of Rogue One is limited to Wookieepedia and what I was told in this novel!

We all know where this book picks up: Lyra Erso has just been murdered and Galen captured up the Imperials, leaving Jyn all alone waiting for -- someone. That someone turns out to be Saw Gerrera, who Jyn has met once before: when Gerrera offered to smuggle the Ersos off Coruscant and find a homestead for them on Lah’mu. Because of this, she trusts him already.

Saw refers to Jyn as “Kid” and “Darling” a lot of the time which is such a minor detail but it feels so... weird to me. (I can really only read “Kid” in Han Solo’s voice). And it’s just a small part of Saw’s dialogue that just feels way too out of character for him, things that I can never picture Forest Whitaker saying in general.

Adorable detail: Saw takes to referring to Jyn as his daughter throughout her time there. In fact, most of the Partisans take to calling Jyn “Jyn Gerrera” since the word “Erso” is never to be mentioned in context of Jyn, per Saw’s orders. (And, for good reason, which the characters learn the hard way later on)

Saw’s number one misstep, in my mind at least, was when he finds Galen Erso, realizes he’s cooperating with the Imperials now and promptly tells Jyn that Galen has, essentially abandoned her and she should think nothing of him again while I continue to spend most of my time attempting to discover what he’s doing

Which could lead to some reeeeally fun meta about how Jyn’s feeling about Galen during Rogue One

My anger of this is, of course, rooted in the fact that I really love Galen Erso and I cry every time I picture him working on the Death Star when he really just misses his girls and wishes they were safe and happy so it probably doesn’t make other people as angry.

So Saw’s running his little side of the rebellion, which has a strange focus on what Galen Erso is going for the Empire (Saw refers to his as their “normal mission”), but don’t worry -- he’s not opposed to blowing the occasional Imperial gathering or stealing their supply shipments or causing general chaos within their ranks.

Once, against orders, Jyn followed Saw into an Imperial celebration on a planet they’d recently conquered, only to find Saw blowing up the entire thing -- both the reps from the Empire and the natives of the planet -- which Jyn knows she is not okay with.

He also has some super sketchy mottoes about fighting -- “If we used the same tactics the Empire does and brought about the same kind of fear, we’d control the people and give them the peace you are so anxious to have” and “What we fail to protect, we leave in ruins” for example-- that aren’t out of character with what we see of his tactics in Rogue One but more an explanation of why his methods were wrong.

As implied in Rogue One, the Alliance doesn’t appreciate that. However, different than I pictured in Rogue One, Saw is never a formal part of the Alliance. Idryssa Barruck seems to be the only connection back to the Alliance since, after years of working with Gerrera, she decided to join the more organized forces.

Jyn will meet another member of the Alliance later on, once she’s on Tamsye Prime and the Alliance is trying to recruit her boyfriend as a pilot (more on that later)

After Saw abandons Jyn (which I’ll talk about in the next section), he still send a spy to follow her around the planet she’s settled on to make sure she’s doing okay. Which -- I don’t know, not necessarily out of character, but definitely a dick move. Saw, either you care enough about the girl to keep her with you, or you let her live her life. One or the other, bro, not some weird grey zone in between.

Saw’s abandonment of Jyn:

If you’re talking about Saw, you’ve got to mention the “big event.”

Saw’s abandonment was... Literally nothing like a pictured. Nothing. Not at all.

Saw appears to make a snap decision to leave Jyn in the middle of a very active war zone with literally no way to get off the planet. And what seemed even more out of character to me was that Jyn guessed Saw was leaving her behind -- and she still trotted off to the bunker and let him leave her there. (See, Draven, the reason why she doesn’t follow orders is because following them normally gets her bad things)

A quick summary of the operation that leads to this: Jyn and Saw were in charge of recon of a planet, had sneaked in under the guise of being a propaganda work crew, filming the laborers of the planet to make the Empire look good. What they didn’t know was Reece Tallent, a man salty at Saw Gerrera for a whole host of reasons and who suspected who Jyn really was (and really wanted the financial benefits of turning these two in), had set this whole thing up with the Imperials. This leads to an Imperial air attack, hoping to kill Saw and Jyn.

In the midst of the battle, Saw (who was dangerously close to bleeding out at the time) tells Jyn “Hey, go hide in the bunker over there and I’ll totally come back to this planet that will be totally destroyed in two hours to get you!” to which Jyn is like “That sounds really sketchy and you’re totally going to leave me here, but okay!”

Legitimate dialogue from this novel

Jyn manages to get off planet by stealing a ship with one of the workers on the planet. They sell the ship, split the money 50/50 and never see each other again. She then finds a woman looking for someone to repair her astromech (”I can do that!” Jyn lied, seeing how she’d never repaired a droid before in her life) and hops a ride off planet with her. Halfway through, however, Jyn forges some documents for the woman -- whose name is Akshaya Ponta -- and, in thanks for helping her avoid fines, she invites Jyn to stay with her.

Turns out Jyn reminds this woman of her dead daughter and she develops a super maternal protectiveness over Jyn (which Jyn finds both really nice and really smothering, considering, you know, her mother died when she was seven.)

So Jyn moves in with this woman, doing some occasional splicing/forgery for her, but mainly she has a lot of free time which gives her time to explore my next topic...

The Romance:

I believe it’s no secret that I personally believe that Jyn Erso belongs with Cassian Andor for the rest of forever. (Guys, look around at the blog. Forget that -- look at its name)

That being said, I tried to keep an open mind with this romance.

Hadder Ponta, the boy in question (his mom is the one who took Jyn in, so they’re kinda living together?), was... fine. There was nothing wrong with him. And I don’t really have a problem with the idea of him and Jyn -- she was sixteen and had just been abandoned by Saw and he and his mother has been incredibly kind to her and he was nice (guys, he took her on real dates and bought her food and everything) and safe so I can’t really blame her for diving headfirst into a little romance -- but, as I mentioned before, it felt a little too much like a stereotypical YA romance

Fun fact about this kid: he ends up speaking to an Alliance recruiter about joining up at one point. He claims it’s because he wants to fly, but he’s also pretty certain that it’ll impress Jyn. (What doesn’t impress Jyn is the fact that the recruiter ends up being someone she knew from the Partisans and accidentally reveals more of her past to the kid than she was intending)

Their romance was a lot of “Hey, we’re about the same age! And you’re a girl and I’m a guy so therefore we’re in love, right?”

Basically, not my favorite kind of romance. (They got along but they didn’t really have chemistry)

But no worries about Hadder coming back -- he and his mother were both killed while attempting to escape the planet and they got trapped in a dogfight between Imperial and Rebellion forces.

However that leads to a whole new host of problems: Jyn keeps thinking about him for an awfully long time. Really, it’s implied she still thinks of Hadder and Akshaya Ponta when she gets her first glimpse of Cassian as the events of Rebel Rising clashes into the beginning of Rogue One.

I contribute it less to her feelings being strong enough to last the years and more to guilt. It was, in Jyn’s mind, her fault that Hadder and Akshaya ever died: if she hadn’t come to live with them, the Empire never would have come knocking on their door in the middle of the night and they wouldn’t have died in a fiery explosion. It does feed into Jyn’s resistance to becoming close to anyone ever again, that fear of hurting everyone she befriends, which could actually make great meta about Jyn’s behavior during the canon events of Rogue One.

Now, speaking of the Pontas, does that name sound familiar to you? It should!

Jyn Erso’s alias’s:

We end up seeing all of Jyn’s canon aliases throughout Rebel Rising which is, in a way, both really cool and kinda disappointing. Here’s what we learn about them...

Kestrel Dawn: Jyn dawns this one (haha, see what I did there? Shut up, I’m funny) while she’s still with Saw. In fact, she’s using this alias on the day that Saw abandons her. She ends up keeping “Dawn” for a last name (obviously “Erso” has proved to be a dangerous last name to have) but returns to “Jyn” by the time she meets the Pontas.

Tanith Ponta: See, I told you their last name would be important. Remember Akshaya’s daughter that I mentioned? Turns out her name was Tanith. When Jyn escaped off Skuhl (the Ponta’s home planet), she saw the ship Akshaya and Hadder were in crash, but out of some irrational bit of hope (see, Cassian, she does know what hope is) she tells the intergalactic customs agents that her name was Tanith Ponta in the hopes that if Akshaya and Hadder arrived, they would be able to find her.

Liana Hallik: The last alias we’re given in Rogue One (turns out the Alliance missed a few others like Lyra Rallik and Nari McVee, both references to earlier parts of Jyn’s life, being her mother and a droid the Ersos owned on Coruscant) doesn’t appear until late in the novel, when Jyn is bouncing from planet to planet simply surviving. It’s not even the alias she’s using when the Imperial arrest her, but rather the new scandocs she had just completed that the Imperials believed to be her real identity.

My favorite Jyn Erso details:

She’s smart. Saw, in the very beginning when he had no idea what to do with a child, handed her a code machine one day to allow her to play with it. Well, she did really well -- so well, in fact, that she became the main supply of forgery throughout the Partisans. If you needed a flight manifest or Imperial orders to get you through a blockade or a fake identity for Saw’s next mission: you went to Jyn and she’d fix you up. (She continues to use this skill to her advantage for the rest of the novel)

We get to see her first use of truncheons! That detail is so tiny I should not be excited by it but she was using them for the first time and I just went “Those will be very important in the future!” because I am a nerd and the scene where she uses them in Jedha City was the first moment I admitted I was completely in love with this woman.

She’s a good person. Like we’ve seen in Forces of Destiny and saving the tooka cat and in the movie itself when she’d run into the line of fire to save a child, Jyn risks her own freedom, and likely her own life, to set a group of female slaves and their children free from a smuggler. She literally overthrows an entire crew by drugging them (note: if you’ve made sexist remarks to get a woman to cook you dinner for an entire journey, she just may respond by poisoning you) and tells the slaves they’re free and gives them control of the ship, only wanting enough to make sure she can get off the next planet.

She’s knows how to survive, no matter if it’s off credits a day or from people attempting to blackmail her. She survives the a crippling doubt in the faith her mother raised her on in prison and the endless crushing blows of being orphaned again and again. In a way, you can see her grow to become the Jyn Erso we met in Rogue One... It’s just that her background is a little different than I expected.

IN CONCLUSION:

It was... fine.

Not what I pictured inside my head of what Jyn’s upbringing was like (I hesitate to say it portrays her as too sheltered, because she is still being raised in the midst of a war, but it’s a hell of a lot more sheltered than what I originally pictured when I thought of Jyn’s childhood)

The romance feels kinda forced and I think some parts are a little OOC but I didn’t hate it as much as I was expecting

If the book happens to land in your lap, it’s a quick and easy read but I wouldn’t suggest going out of your way to find it.

Now that I’ve gone on a long and rambling rant about Rebel Rising (leaving out a lot of details I’m certain I should talk about, like Jyn’s perception of her parents throughout the novel which I super fangirled over) I’d love to hear what anyone else who’s read the novel has thought about it! Feel free to drop by my inbox and discuss!

#kat reads #rebel rising #jyn erso #jynappreciationsquad #rogue one #galen erso #saw gerrera #lyra erso #cassian andor #The Partisans #the alliance #ive been in this queue since i was six years old #hold shit this is almost 3k words long #apparently i had a lot more thoughts about this book than I realized #but really #PLEASE DISCUSS #send me things about how rebel rising made you feel #also because i intend on writing a fic based on an AU of this...

24 notes · View notes

rwolf19 · 7 years

Text

Garden Pt. 2 — An Elucien Fic

Length: 2732

Rating: T, SFW

First | Next | The Pull (Nessian) | Star of Spring

A/N: Don’t mind me, just editing a year after the original post.

Elain and Lucien were tolerating Cassian. He was a petulant child, pacing and throwing himself across the furniture dramatically. Elain was amused by it. Lucien was not. All he wanted was some time with his mate while her sister (the scary one) was away. Cassian was determined to spread the misery as far as possible. Nesta had only been gone for a day and a half and the batty infant was going even crazier than usual.

"Cassian, time for our training," Feyre poked her head down the stairs, face flushed enough that Lucien didn't ask what she'd been doing. Rhys's scent practically preceded her into the room. It definitely preceded the High Lord himself, considering he only meandered down the stairs after Cassian had jumped to his feet at the prospect of something to do. Rhys winked at Lucien and slunk out the front door. Lucien met Elain's eyes for a moment before returning to his book.

They were both on the couch, considering Cassian's desire to upset as much of the sitting room as possible. Usually they sat farther from one another, though Elain was at one end of the couch and Lucien the other. He trained his eyes to his book as she shifted. She didn't stand, but the couch moved under her weight. Lucien ran a finger down the edge of a page as he turned it.

"Hello," Elain dropped down, her head just barely brushing against his thigh. Lucien tamed his racing thoughts (though that was a hard won battle) as she settled. She was lying across the majority of the couch, her knees hanging over the end of it. She tilted her head and regarded Lucien as he lowered his book.

"Hello," Lucien chuckled. "Are you comfortable?"

"I am," Elain said with an affirmative nod. Lucien pulled her hair out from under her without thinking, holding his book with one hand. If she kept on like that, she'd have her hair tangled enough that even Nuala and Cerridwen would be mildly upset. Elain smiled at him and he nearly dropped his book on her, "Thank you."

"Yeah," Lucien murmured. He cleared his throat and looked up at the mantle, "I mean- You're welcome, Elain."

Lucien set his book on the armrest and turned his page, sneaking a look at Elain as he did.

"When is Nesta back?" Elain asked. Lucien look down at her. He doubted there was a gentle, clean way of asking she put her head in his lap. It would make her more comfortable, and some small part of Lucien still wanted to slowly kill himself apparently. Elain had gotten more at ease with him of late, and he wasn't about to ruin it by pushing her farther than she wanted to go.

"As far as I'm aware, two more weeks," Lucien answered, watching his hand pull through her hair. He wasn't sure what he was doing, but Elain didn't complain. She actually pushed herself up to use his thigh as a pillow, closing her eyes and smiling softly.

Lucien had met a lot of beautiful Fae, but Elain was something else. Her soft brown eyes and gentle hands and the way her voice shifted when she was flirting were all . . . perfect. There wasn't any other word for it. She could be fierce—she’d proved that against Hybern, but she preferred to be a grower of things than a destroyer of them. Lucien had two more weeks of nearly undivided time with her before Nesta returned and started chasing him off again with that steely gaze. Not that Lucien was scared of her.

Cassian was the one he was worried about. One wrong word, one wrong move, and Nesta would explode and then Cassian would tear him apart. Or laugh while Nesta and Feyre did it themselves. He hoped Rhys would at least try to stop them. It wasn't a very big hope.

And maybe he deserved it, if he added hurting Elain to his list of sins. He was responsible for so many deaths. He should have gone into the woods instead of Andras. Andras never would have stood for Tamlin helping Hybern, suffocating Feyre, or letting Ianthe wander around. He shuddered at the thought of the priestess. A light touch to his chin made him jump.

"Where did you go?" He looked down at Elain. She'd set her book on her stomach, one hand laying over it and the other at his jaw. She was frowning. Lucien tilted his head into her hand a little more.

"I was just thinking."

"You looked sad," Elain said.

Lucien nodded slightly, "I think I might've been, for a moment."

"Why?"

"Because I've lost many people," Lucien answered quietly. "And I was thinking that I should not like to lose you, too."

He kept stroking her hair, not expecting anything from her in response. If he were her, he'd have no idea what to say to that. "Who have you lost?" Elain asked. After a moment, she added quietly, "Spring Court faeries?"

"Spring, Autumn, Day, Summer," Lucien shrugged. "I had a lot of friends, before Amarantha and Hybern . . . Even with- with my father . . . It was- It was a long fifty years."

"I'm not even thirty yet," Elain puffed at a strand of hair, but it settled in nearly the same place. Lucien smiled and pulled aside her hair for her.

"You don't look a day over twenty," Lucien reassured her. Elain snorted. Lucien blinked, unsure if he was hearing things. Elain's eyes widened and even she made a surprised face. Lucien was laughing within a moment. A low, rumbling laugh that shook him down to his toes. He knocked his book to the floor and tilted his head back and laughed until he couldn't breathe. It felt like waking up after a too long sleep. Elain jabbed him in the stomach and he giggled, bending over so they were nearer to each other. Elain's laughter met his and she pushed his head to the side.

"Don't you laugh at me, Lucien," she pushed herself up slightly and settled her head fully in his lap. Lucien wheezed out one more laugh and a cough, unable to stamp out his grin.

"I'm terribly sorry, Elain," he said. She poked him again.

"No, you aren't," she smiled. He chuckled and shook his head.

"I'm an honest-"

"Honest?" Elain laughed, twisting to watch him. "Really, you're honest?"

"Excuse me," Lucien touched a hand to his chest and flicked her nose lightly with the other. "I don't like this characterization of me."

"If you're so honest, tell me what you would do if Nesta walked in the door," Elain pointed. Lucien smiled, sticking out his tongue at her for a heartbeat. "Well?"

"I would stand up in the way that would most disturb you," Lucien said, "And I would run for the roof and pray I could jump from it before she caught me."

"You would not!"

"You told me to be honest!"

"Then why did you lie?" Elain pouted. Lucien touched her bottom lip, running his finger across it. She was, without a doubt, the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen.

"Because I can't seem to stop thinking about you and it makes it very hard to come up with plans," Lucien admitted. Elain bit her lip, turning her head toward him more. Her brown eyes did not leave his for a long moment. "That is not helping."

"Do you think I'm beautiful?"

"Yes," Lucien breathed. Elain's brow furrowed. Lucien laughed quietly, "Elain, you could take the form of a Suriel and still be beautiful. It's . . . The way you smile, and the way you tend to all living things, plants and animals alike, and the way you watch your sisters when you don't think anyone is watching."

"I sometimes wonder if the only reason that he took any interest in me was because I was pretty and rich," Elain rubbed at her ring finger absent-mindedly. Lucien slipped his hand into hers.

"He's a damn fool," Lucien kissed her forehead, "You're prettier and richer now than you were before."

"Stop it," Elain pushed him away but she was smiling.

"Why should I?" Lucien kissed her cheeks, then the tip of her nose. Elain nuzzled her nose into his cheeks. Lucien didn't care that they were in the sitting room and anyone could have walked in. Even though his blood was roaring for him to twist and pin Elain to the couch until she screamed for him—preferably many times over—he had control of himself. If he had survived Calanmai's magic, he could live through the mating bond. He scented her arousal and felt it down the bond at the same time. Her cheeks were flushed and she was taking those tiny little breaths he loved.

"Why do you smell so good?" Elain asked. Lucien grinned and kissed her chin gently. She was his mate and she was so beyond perfect.

"I took a bath this morning," Lucien shrugged. Elain laughed quietly, squeezing the hand holding hers. Lucien dragged his nose along her jaw to her ear, breathing deeply. Elain gasped when he kissed her ear lobe gently. Lucien wanted to hear nothing but that sound until the day he died. "You smell good, too."

"I took a bath last night," Elain murmured. Lucien groaned and kissed her cheek again. "I was naked and everything-"

"Elain," Lucien kissed the corner of her smiling lips. "Feyre is having a terrible influence on you."

Elain's free hand twisted into the hair at the nape of Lucien's neck. He was trying very hard not to think of two things: Elain in the bath, and Elain's head in his lap in a . . . different fashion. Elain picked herself up and twisted so that she was straddling him and Lucien lost complete track of what he'd been thinking of or avoiding thinking of. His hands found her waist as she leant over him with a small smile.

"Elain," Lucien murmured. "What are you doing?"

"You were sideways," Elain rested her forearms on either shoulder. She laughed quietly, "And now you aren't."

"I can see that," Lucien kissed the underside of her jaw. Elain murmured something under her breath and tilted her head to the side. Lucien was immensely happy that she no longer had her head in his lap. He brushed his lips along the length of her neck, recommitting her scent to memory. She hummed quietly, rolling her head so her hair fell on either side of their faces. Elain kissed him softly, pushing him back into the couch. Lucien groaned and pulled her closer. Her hips pressed into his.

"Can you not do that in here?" Elain jumped and twisted to face the stairs. Lucien should've heard them return.

"Rather here than somewhere else," Feyre said. Elain slipped off Lucien, grabbing her book and sitting down on the couch beside him.

"This is my safe place," Cassian protested.

"It isn't even your house!"

"Don't bog me down with technicalities, Feyre," Cassian said. He must've jumped several stairs because there was a much louder thud than usual and he landed with two feet at the bottom of the stairs.

"Any word from Nesta?" Elain asked as Lucien strategically placed his fallen book on his lap. Feyre took the stairs—all of them—with quick, light footsteps. She shoved Cassian out of her way from where he lingered in the doorway.

"Not yet," Feyre said lightly. Lucien glanced at the floor. She was worried, and trying to hide it. He didn't know if Elain could tell, but by the tightness in Cassian's jaw, the Illyrian had picked up on it as well. "For now, no news is good news." Cassian snorted and headed for the kitchen. Feyre sent a scowl his way.

"Is there anything I can do?" Lucien asked.

"The Illyrians need talking to, but they'll eat you alive," Feyre sighed. Lucien did not protest. Cassian and Azriel were bad enough. He didn't need stubborn, brutish, winged strangers snarling down at him for being a red-headed devil. Especially since their common enemy had been vanquished. "Keir is getting upset again, testing Rhys, but he'll give you to your brothers before he wastes his precious time killing you." Lucien winced.

"Don't be mean, Feyre," Elain chided.

"You could go visit Helion," Feyre proposed. "But you'd have to leave Elain. He's got a weird thing about sharing a bed with as many partners as he can get."

"I've been around a lot longer than you have," Lucien reminded her. "I know what Helion is like."

"I don't want to be here alone," Elain said quietly. Lucien met Feyre's eyes. A moment later, her essence pressed against his mind. He let her in.

Has she been all right?

As far as I can tell. She just gets worried sometimes, Lucien answered.

"Elain, we won't all leave at once," Feyre said gently. The predator prowling alongside Lucien's mind slipped away. "Once Nesta gets back, Lucien can go to Helion. After that, Cas and Azriel will go to the Illyrian Steppes."

"Can I take Nesta? I want to see her crush Devlon's balls," Cassian called from the kitchen. There was a clatter and he cursed violently.

"As amusing as that would be," Feyre answered, "It's not the best idea.

"Then at least let foxy boy take Elain to Helion."

"Foxy boy?" Elain laughed. Lucien pushed her gently. She shoved him back.

"Very creative," Lucien shot at Cassian. The giant bat meandered back to Feyre's side, sucking some kind of food off his fingers.

"I could always go to Helion with Elain."

"Nesta would crush your balls, in that ever so likely scenario," Lucien smiled. He felt like tearing Cassian from limb to limb, more so than usual. There was a growl building up and if the Illyrian said one more thing about Elain, Lucien was actually going to try.

Cassian smirked, "Nesta can come too, Helion will like that-"

"Enough," Feyre snapped before Lucien could do more than bare his teeth. "You were bad enough with Rhys, it isn't your job to annoy the living shit out of us all."

"Please, he does it for the sheer joy of it," Lucien snarled.

"Lucien," Elain murmured, setting a hand on his thigh. He looked at her and completely forgot about her sister and the winged menace. She looked so worried, almost scared.

"Let's go up to the garden," Lucien said softly.

"If Nesta scents you on her," Cassian paused. Lucien gave him a dry look, raising his eyebrows. "Even I don't know what she'll do."

"She knows Lucien isn't like that," Feyre murmured. "She can be reasoned with, Cass, don't be dramatic."

"Dramatic? Every time I get near her she tries to take my balls off!"

"Then maybe you shouldn't go near her," Lucien said flatly.

"Maybe you shouldn't breathe, Lucien," Cassian snapped.

"Maybe you shouldn't-"

"You are both well over a hundred years old, behave!" Feyre ordered. Cassian straightened but rolled his eyes. Lucien closed his mouth and swallowed. Maybe Nesta wasn't the Scary Sister after all. Not that he'd tell Feyre that. Cassian opened his mouth and Feyre held up a hand, "I am your High Lady, I do not give a damn that you are older than me."

"I'm older than you, too," Elain murmured. Lucien touched the hand on his leg and his forehead to her shoulder to hide his laughter.

"Why is everyone in the sitting room?" Lucien looked up at Rhys as he strolled into the room and kissed Feyre's neck. She arched back into his touch.

"Take it somewhere else," Cassian grumbled, heading to the kitchen again.

"Go back to the House of Wind," Rhys answered, throwing up a rude hand gesture. "I'm going to enjoy my mate whenever it pleases her."

Lucien did not know why, exactly, Elain was watching him with her head slightly tilted, but it brought her mouth entirely too close to his for him to focus. "I'd like to go with Lucien to the Day Court," Elain said, looking back at her sister. Lucien was happy to stare at her neck and ear.

"I'll tell Helion to keep away," Rhys said with a wink. Lucien began a prayer that lasted a long, long while.

#lucien x elain #elain archeron #acotar #acomaf #post acowar #elucien #elucien fic #writing #fanfic

39 notes · View notes

tyrantisterror · 7 years

Note

This might be a bit of an odd question, but how would you personally improve Prometheus?

I’m assuming you mean the movie and not, like, the mythological titan.

First improvement: scrap every character except David and start over, because they’re all boring, inconsistent, and terrible. David is also inconsistent and terrible, but he’s at least interesting, so if we just make him consistent and well written, he’d be fine.

Since the expedition consists of scientists, let’s actually make them ACT like scientists, as opposed to either 1. creationists or 2. poorly written strawmen. Let’s have them actually be competent in their fields, instead of, say, having a geologist who gets lost in the building he mapped out or a biologist who’s afraid of a corpse but NOT a hissing nightmare penis cobra. Let’s give them more well rounded personalities than “has an obvious character flaw, like being an asshole or a coward, which shifts in and out of their characterization depending on how we need them to act for a scene rather than being consistent.”

Let’s also have most if not all of the people actually WANT to be on this expedition - it’s a lot more interesting/dramatically ironic if these people are all SUPER PUMPED to explore new worlds and seek out the life they might find there, only to have it all go horribly wrong. Most of the characters in the film seemed disinterested in the expedition at best and downright resentful that they were there at worst, which resulted in most of the character building moments being “MRAAH I DON’T WANT TO BE HERE ADVENTURE SUCKS,” which 1. isn’t endearing and 2. doesn’t really provide a character arc, since they basically go from “I THINK THIS MISSION SUCKS” to “YEP THIS MISSION SUCKS ALRIGHT,” which isn’t really good for character growth.

I don’t want to brainstorm a bunch of entirely new characters to fill up the cast right now because that’s a lot of work for a tumblr ask, but that’s what I’d have to do first and foremost to make this story not suck.

Let’s move onto the plot. The plot of Prometheus is simple at its core but made into a jumbled mess by its execution, which is what happens when you hire Damon Lindeloff. So let’s cut to the core a bit: at its center, Prometheus is about people finding evidence that aliens visited earth, and using ancient clues Nicholas Cage style to track those aliens down. They find an alien world that hides dark secrets and stumble into a whole slew of monsters.

Now, one of the ways Prometheus makes this needlessly stupid and convoluted is that they make the ancient aliens the creators of “all life on earth,” with some bullshit about how humans have identical DNA as the Engineers and all that. It’s the kind of thing that sounds like it makes sense to people who paid no attention in high school biology and thus only know what DNA is from pop culture. While this plot point is technically important for the whole “stressful parent/child relationships” theme that the movie has going on, it’s also intensely stupid and I hate it, so it’s getting cut. Sometimes a theme must suffer for the sake of telling a good story.

But now we have to rejig things to accommodate for that major change, and rejig we shall! So here’s how things start out instead: archaeologists discover evidence of ancient aliens, complete with what seems to be a star map. Their corporate financial backer, Mr. Weyland (or was it Mr. Yutani? I forget which one was involved here), who’s a bit of a wacko, decides to fund a rushed expedition to the planet in the star map. He thinks these aliens must have created humanity (which the other scientists rightly think is a kinda stupid hypothesis), and wants to meet them to bring humanity to the next level. An expedition of ambitious experts is assembled, and off to space they go!

They get to the planet and discover that, while it’s technically habitable, all life on the surface is dead. There are corpses of all sorts of different creatures littering the surface, decayed and partially fossilized. Some look much like terrestiral life, but a good deal more look very Giger-esque. Most of the corpses are not in one piece, showing their deaths were pretty violent. Something horrible clearly happened here.

But our heroes proceed, disturbed but willing to risk the danger in hopes of discovery. They find an Engineer building and search it, discovering vague holotapes showing chaos on the ship and the creation of various Giger-esque monsters. They find laboratories filled with strange monsters - David in particular is intrigued by this, as the idea of other artificial life intrigues him. While the other explorers are trying to find kinship with the Engineers, David finds it all to easily in the monsters they created.

We eventually discover two things: first, the planet isn’t as dead as it looked, as there are a lot of strange monsters living within this building. The many different monsters in Prometheus were, in my mind, its greatest strength, so my take would push that even farther - we’d have an entire ecosystem of Giger-esque nightmare creatures here. When first discovered they’d be in a state of suspended animation, but the explorers broke the “seal” when they entered the tomb, allowing the Giger beasts to get active again. The building quickly turns into a living hell.

Second, we learn the Engineers were nowhere near the benevolent precursors Mr. Weyland/Yutani believes them to be. They didn’t create life on earth, nor did they visit earth to help us out - they’re colonialists who spread from planet to planet like a virus. They did tinker with humanity’s ancestors, but it wasn’t so humanity could have some grand purpose - it was to make us better hosts for their bioweapons. We aren’t children of the Engineers - we’re their petfood. While Mr. Weyland and the other explorers are disheartened by this discovery, David understands it totally - after all, he was created to be a disposable tool, so why wouldn’t humanity follow a similar route? The anger and frustration the explorers have at this revelation inspires him, though - after all, if they won’t accept their purpose, why should he?

The opening of the building has also been noticed by the Engineers, and soon enough an Engineer ship arrives on the planet to figure out who popped open their preserved bio-weapons. The Engineer ship blows up our explorers’ spaceship, stranding them on the planet. A squad of Engineers enters the building to destroy the remaining explorers and seal things up again, wearing biomechanical suits that make the Giger beasts nonhostile towards them. We’d have at least one shot of an Engineer in its elephant-face-mask armor walking calmly through a sea of different nightmarish Giger monsters, all of which treat him with absolutely no animosity, because I think that would be a very eerie and interesting visual.

While the Engineers kill a few of them, the surviving explorers eventually figure out how to retaliate, killing all the Engineers in the building and taking their suits as disguises. The fact that the Engineer’s host form resembles a human very closely is once more a meaningful plot point, albeit in a different way than in the original. David also joins the group, hiding in the Engineer travel craft with some very familiar looking eggs.

Our heroes then sneak into the Engineer’s ship and try to take out all the remaining Engineers so they can use the ship to get home. The plan succeeds thanks to David’s secret weapon, but unfortunately all of our human explorers are taken out in the process - either by the Engineer’s hands or, in the case of the final survivor, by stumbling into one of David’s alien egg traps and getting a good ol’ facehugger.

Now the only person left alive on the ship, David returns to the Engineer Building and basically loads up on eggs and other monstrosities, then sets off with plans to spread them as far and wide as he can.

And that’s how I’d change Prometheus.

#notapangolin

73 notes · View notes