#bigotry towards literally anyone is always!!! wrong!!!

[anghraine]

It is very strange to me that there's this idea that open bigotry or otherwise abhorrent behavior becomes okay if the target is in some way acceptable.

Like ... bigotry towards or about people who are themselves awful, and/or powerful, and/or cringe, and/or older/younger, and/or public figures, and/or however you want to define them as acceptable targets, is still bigotry.

Your target may never hear what you say. But the people around you generally will. You're still adding to the bigotry that people witness and experience and which is just ... this miasma in the world.

I'm not saying there's no place for anger, confrontation, condemnation, harsh jokes, whatever—it's not that context never has any bearing on whether actions in general are right or wrong. But relying on bigotry to make your point is wrong without exception.

#normally i try to punctuate my posts with 'imo' or 'i think' or whatever #this is not one of those occasions #bigotry towards literally anyone is always!!! wrong!!! #yes even: #your fat jokes about 45 and your homophobic jokes about pete buttigieg #misogyny towards big name hollywood actresses and racism towards internet celebrities you find annoying #ableist jokes towards people whose medical histories you don't know but find kind of sketchy #i can go on! these are just examples of the manyyyyyy forms this takes #and it makes the world worse. thanks. #anghraine rants #rare breed of attack unicorn #but also just. everything. #discourse hell

[secretmellowblog]

One thing I feel people almost always overlook about Javert is that:

The book’s narrator is usually harsh/sarcastic towards Javert, and that harshness is why his character has pathos. Javert is able to be sympathetic because Victor Hugo has basically no respect for his beliefs. Javert is so pitiable because Hugo mocks and drags him on basically every page he appears.

I’ve mentioned before that the message of Les Mis is (paraphrasing) that ACAB— Javert is the best police officer it is possible to be, and he is terrible, because the laws he enforces are terrible. His law & order ideology is terrible. Everything he believes is fundamentally wrong, and so deeply wrong that it deserves no respect.

Yes, Hugo acknowledges that Javert occasionally has a misguided kind of nobility— the nobility of holding yourself honestly to a set of bad rules, the nobility of following a terrible moral code even when it hurts you. But Hugo has no respect for Javert’s bigotry, or his bootlicking, or his deranged obsessive worship of law and order. Hugo portrays the way that Javert martyrs himself for his ideology as strangely honorable— but the ideology itself is mocked and condemned. Hugo thinks martyrdom is cool, but that Javert is martyring himself for a terrible cause.

In his most sympathetic moments, Javert’s worldview is portrayed as pitiable…. not a worldview that’s worthy of true total genuine respect, but a worldview that’s deeply pathetic in its wrongness.

Without himself suspecting the fact, Javert in his formidable happiness was to be pitied, as is every ignorant man who triumphs.

This is part of why those old 2012-era les mis fanfics always threw me off, if anyone remembers the fandom trends at the time. XD People used to write Valjean and pre-barricades Javert having political debates, as if the two of them could make arguments about law that were equally valid and worthy of respect, and pre-barricades Javert had a worthwhile set of beliefs that Valjean could learn from. But to me it’s personally kinda like, no XD. Nah. The whole thing about pre-barricades Javert is that he does not have any valid points to make. He has nothing resembling a point. He is “ignorant” and determined to stay that way because he literally believes that thinking is evil. He is a violent authoritarian whose worldview is just “mindless self-destructive bootlicking and bigotry.” I joked about it in a previous post but if we want a character who offers a genuinely meaningful counterpoint to Valjean’s philosophy, who could debate him on politics, and who could represent justice while Valjean represents mercy— that character is Enjolras, not Javert.

Valjean has a fascinating complicated relationship with law and politics and violence, but Javert is just a deeply pitiable brainwashed creature who martyrs himself for Wrong things.

Hugo pities Javert, but he does not treat Javert’s worldview --‘authority is always right, rigid social hierarchies must always be enforced, human life has no intrinsic value, the police must violently suppress any kind of crime or rebellion’— as something that deserves to be genuinely respected. It is not something that’s even worthy of debate. It is wrong, it is nonsense, it is an incoherent cruel self-contradicting ideology, and Javert only believes it because (to quote Hugo’s sarcastic narration) “thought was something to which he was unused.” (Or to be more charitable, Javert believes these terrible things because he was born inside a prison and has been brainwashed from birth into internalizing a cruel carceral view of the world.)

And I think Hugo generally does a good job of walking that tightrope — having pity for Javert without portraying Javert’s ideology as something worthy of genuine admiration. He sympathizes with how rigidly Javert holds himself to his own moral code, while condemning the moral code itself for being idiotic. He has empathy with Javert’s sincere self-destructive dedication to what he believes in, while pointing out the things he believes in are all stupid. He pities Javert’s martyrdom, while condemning the nonsense that Javert martyrs himself for.

One of my Top Ten Favorite Pathetic Javert Moments is this one, when Javert recognizes Marius’s body after the barricades:

A spy of the first quality, who had observed everything, listened to everything, and taken in everything, even when he thought that he was to die; who had played the spy even in his agony, and who, with his elbows leaning on the first step of the sepulchre, had taken notes.

Because Javert martyrs himself so earnestly for this terrible cause! He “takes notes” even when he believes he’s going to die and the notes cannot possibly be of any use to anyone, simply because taking notes is the thing he has been ordered to do. He’s so self-destructively dedicated to performing these useless pointless tasks because he believes there is real ~dignity~ to his mindless bootlicking— when there isn’t.

That’s why Javert’s emotional breakdown and suicide hit so hard for me, in a way that it wouldn’t if the narration was forgiving towards his stupid belief system. The contrast between Javert’s sheer pathetic terror and the often harsh/sarcastic narration is just….wild. It makes Javert sympathetic without making his awful ideology seem good, reasonable, or valuable. (And while this is only adjacent to the point I’m making- the harsh narration in Derailed also emphasizes the way Javert has been trained to view his own thoughts/emotions with contempt.) Javert is deeply pitiable/sympathetic without his ideology being framed as correct. And the whole tragedy of his character comes from the fact that he is utterly entirely wrong.

If I were to summarize the pathos of Javert, I wouldn’t say “he’s sympathetic because he’s a noble anti-hero with good strong morals who makes some valuable points about the importance of law” or w/e. I’d say that you can feel sorry for him because he’s a wretched brainwashed creature who’s never done anything right even though he wants to, and is deeply ridiculously pathetic without ever realizing it.

As Hugo puts it: “without himself suspecting the fact, Javert (…) was to be pitied.”

#send an ask if you want to know my other top ten favorite pathetic javert moments! #les mis #XD #it’s javert death day so I decided to make an overlong tumblr post for him #a very Vintage Mellow thing to do #but yeah #people always say I hate javert because I mock and drag him all the time #but like!!! #the reason javert is sympathetic is because Hugo’s always mocking and dragging him #I love it #that’s my take anyway #he’s just a horrible Creature #my complicated emotional relationship with javert #but yeee idk if this is coherent XD

[genderkoolaid]

re: tme discourse. did these people forget about gnc men?? gnc men are ABSOLUTELY affected by transmisogyny despite not being transfem. but that's not convenient for the argument so it doesn't matter (sarcasm)

I mean they literally do not care. The answer to this will always be "that's just misdirected transmisogyny, its not the same". I've seen people claim that homophobia towards queer men is essentially transmisogyny-lite (and the two are connected but imo its about the misandry/antimasculism directed at queer people perceived at transgressing male gender roles, and I have a feeling TME/TMA proponents would Not like that interpretation lmao).

The thing is I do understand part of the use for TME/TMA. In that transfems are the targets of transmisogyny, tend to be the ones most aware of it because of this, and therefore transfem voices should be central to its discussion*. But thats true of every single form of bigotry, and we don't use this "affected/exempt" system for literally anything else. Because its entirely unhelpful to imply that who can be affected by a bigotry is based on their identity. Not only can you be targeted for the wrong reasons, but it can be physically and mentally damaging and occur often enough to be a fundamental part of your life experience. And this is why I mean that "misdirected bigotry" is never used for anything other than possessiveness over being the victims of a certain type of bigotry. Its only ever used to tell other people that their victimization was less harmful and that they do not have a right to speak about that form of bigotry, creating a dichotomy between "real victims" and "fake victims", which alienates a large portion of the people being directly affected by that bigotry.

I try to do the opposite on this blog: while transmascs should be centered in discussions of transandrophobia, I actively encourage anyone to discuss their experiences with it, or antimasculism/misandry, or exorsexism, or anything I talk about! Because it helps us learn more about the functions of bigotry, and creates solidarity between all victims regardless of who they are. People who otherwise would not have had their pain validated (bc they are not in communities where it is addressed in the first place) are helped, and we get so many more comrades in our fight! And we can be open and supportive of non-transmasc transandrophobia (or non-transfem victims of transmisogyny) without decentering transamscs(/transfems) from the discussion.

The reason why creating this victim binary is important for TME/TMA is because imo these acronyms cannot be divorced from the baeddelist idea that transmisogyny is the worst form of transphobia/oppression, and non-transfems are oppressors of transfems... and therefore cannot be allied with, or can only be allied with if they act subservient**. Its fundamentally tied to the idea that other trans people have systematic power over transfems (& the sister belief of "transphobia isnt real its all transmisogyny" and "transfems are the only real trans people"). Which is antithetical to transunity. The belief that transmascs/afab trans people(/maybe amab trans people depending on whos talking about who) have an oppressor/oppressed relationship with transfems should be a major red flag; it's the source of a lot of people's feelings of not having the authority to talk about transphobia or transness in general. It's the source of uncomfortable dynamics between transmascs&fems where transmascs are expected to be differential to transfems and see themselves as oppressors obliged to "give back" to their victims. It's the source of transmascs being told they aren't in danger and have an obligation to serve as human shields for transfems, which puts can put people in real, serious danger.

ANYWAYS. My point is that there is no group you can pull out to prove TME/TMA proponents wrong. Even intersex people are either completely ignored, demonized, or heavily criticized and nitpicked when talking about how this binary is intersexist, and same with black women, despite intersex cis black women being a main target of a lot of transmisogyny. The fact that non-AMAB transfems experience transmisogyny will not do anything to make them change their minds because it can and will always be labeled "misdirected" and therefore insignificant.

*before anyone says some shit: transfems helped create transunity, many transunitist are explicitly following the beliefs of transfems they know and have learned from. anti-transunitist transfems are not the only ones to have valid opinions on how transmisogyny works. stop erasing the work transfems have put into constructing transunity theory. its okay to admit you disagree with transunitist transfems you don't have to act like they don't exist while harassing them off the internet

**no this is not about all transfems. there are many transfems outspokenly against this & many transfems who have been hurt by this. it is not transmisogynistic to address the real, serious harm certain transfems have done to trans people, which (as can be read abt in the link) very much includes abusive behavior towards transmascs which (imo) mirrors a lot of the rhetoric I see online about how "TMEs" should behave.

#im bored & had time so you get this ridiculously long answer lol #m. #ask box #okay tumblr did NOT like that link so i put a different one

[impunkster-syndrome]

oh yeah totally not transmisogynistic for you to create a callout-style smear campaign against a trans woman for TALKING ABOUT TRANSMISOGYNY. the screenshots that are supposedly “proof” of “transandrophobia” are literally just pointing out that transfems experience discrimination that transmascs don’t. your insistence that she is somehow dangerous or harmful IS TRANSMISOGYNISTIC. please just THINK about what you are doing!!

So it's transmisogynistic to point out that a transfem is extremely fucking toxic as a person and is being transphobic towards a demographic that had supported her when it came down to photomatt's transmisogyny? That is not transmisogyny. She doesn't get to be bigoted to other trans people due to trauma as a "reward." Her being trans does not immediately make her not transphobic ever to other trans people.

She calls transmascs MRAs for speaking of issues that impact us (Surprise- transmascs do experience misogyny as well. You act like the instant we realize we are transmascs we don't and become immediately passing as cis.) when real MRAs hate us and consider us women. She thinks we are at fault for TERFs targeting us due to vulnerability and should be punished for it. She supports baeddels that have a history of being anti-masculinity. Tell me how that is not transphobic. It would be the instant that you swap out transmasc for transfem in your eyes, so how is it not transphobic for her to do to us? Is it not transmisogynistic to have a double standard that allows anyone deemed women to be flawless and incapable of wrongdoing or bigotry for being women while men are always evil?

Making people aware of someone's transphobia is not a smear campaign. You sound like the alt right fucks who get mad they experience consequences for racism when you claim that.

You really going to go up to bat for someone who thinks they should get a free pass on suicide baiting and says that cohost staff enforcing their own rules about it is transmisogyny? That's literally trying to twist a situation so you're the victim when you're actually the one in the wrong in the situation. Someone can be a victim and experience oppression, but that doesn't mean they are flawless or always good people.

Bonus: She blames transmascs for her being ran off the site and not staff's refusal to actually do anything about the harassment and wrongful community labeling plus photomatt's transmisogyny. So she thinks transmascs are 100% the same as the TERFs that want us killed.

Predstrogen, if you don't want people screenshotting your rancid transphobia and history of bigotry, stop thinking it is magically acceptable to do to other people. You're literally supposed to not be on this site anymore. Just fucking look away. I do this for archival purposes. My FP deleted xis account for you and supports all your baeddel shit. I never saw a transmasc not support you while the photomatt stuff went around. I spread the word and support a case of legal action against tumblr for the bigotry and paywalling of accessibility. You're being intentionally ignorant of the people who have supported you and then spitting in their faces. Also funny how she shows usernames from other people but not my username and more of the post. Almost as if my points here actually get under her skin and she doesn't want people coming to my blog to see the full post.

#the blackbox askbox #undescribed #predestrogen #transandophobia #transmisogny

[batwynn]

are people still into drarry at this point? as far as i know the entire hp fandom basically died when a certain someone spoke her political opinions. anyone still talking about hp gets harassed to oblivion and so many callout posts pop up saying that if you still like the franchise you're supporting terfs. i honestly don't know how to feel, i'd simply deleted all my hp content on my blog because seeing them just makes me uncomfortable in hindsight :/

So, I wasn't planning on replying to this because I didn't want to hurt anyone by sharing it, or by my reply. It's something that calls for some nuance that I worry I won't be able to explore properly. But I had a thought and I wanted to share it. Trigger warning: Mentions of transphobia, JKR, and suicidal thoughts. Note: This has been tagged for black lists so people can avoid it. Apologies for those in the fandom tags.

-

So, I'm trans. That's something I'm always pretty open about online, especially as I haven't had much safe space to be open about it in real life. My transition process has been somewhat public, even if I've been pretty quiet about things in the past few years. If you search my blog, you can probably find the posts where I started exploring my gender around 2016-2017ish. They're posted along side Drarry posts, among other fandoms I was in. You will also find that I stopped posting as much Drarry a few years later, with little correlation to what the author was saying or doing at the time because I wasn't on Twitter and hadn't heard the news yet. I drifted fandoms a bit, then I went on Twitter and... yeah.

Now here's where it gets a bit complicated, and personal. A Drarry fanfiction saved my life because it helped convince me that I could transition. That I could be trans and it was okay. A Drarry fanfic told me I wasn't too old, I wasn't wrong, it's not too late, and it's okay to do the things that make you happy even if you spent half your life doing the things that people told you were right but were wrong for you. I'm not dramatizing this in any way. I read this fanfic when I was in a really bad place, when I was figuring out I was trans and in a horrible relationship with a shitty person and I was scared to death. All I could think was that there was no way out for me. I'm not saying this to guilt anyone for not liking Drarry/Harry Potter. I'm not saying it to defend JKR or any of the things she's made, said, or done. I'm not saying it because I'm a traitor to the trans community or that Harry Potter is even that important to me. I'm saying it because a writer out there wrote a Drarry fanfiction with no intention of it being life saving, and yet they did save my life. They just wanted to create something fun, and meaningful, with two characters from some books. Did it have to be Harry Potter? For them, yes. They read those books and saw more to the characters than JKR ever could, and they gave us a story that is so meaningful and transformative that I literally did the thing JKR hates with her entire bitter, little heart. Because of a person in the fandom. Now, I personally feel a disconnect from those books these days. She's really, truly ruined those memories for me in ways I can't even put into words. Worse even, was seeing that there were bigotries in those books that I was ignorant to, as a child. Things I didn't see because I didn't know. And knowing now that it was always there, the hatred and ugliness, makes the original material poison to me. And god, don't get me started on messy fandom spaces. Don't look towards the Interview With a Vampire fandom at all. It's, unfortunately, a large part of being in a group space with people who like a thing. There will be hateful people, there will be Bad people. But there are also NOT those people. There are queer people who still love their fandoms. There are people writing trans Harry Potter fics. There are people cosplaying Draco in a skirt and fuck gender rolls we're vibing here. There's also a massive difference between enjoying a community built by fans, and directly supporting JKR with money and attention. What you do in response to her cruelty is totally valid, however you decide. Deleting the content is completely understandable. Not wanting to see anything Harry Potter related is also valid, especially when so many of us have been seriously hurt by her. Not supporting JKR in views or money is important to supporting trans people. But I can't tell people how to respond, how to behave, or how to experience the fandom. Trauma responses vary by person. Being angry and yet completely embracing the fandom to the point where it belongs to the fans is also a super valid reaction. People are a complex system of experiences and reactions. There is no one set way to respond. There is always room to learn, there is always room to listen. The unfortunate truth, however, is this has happened before with creators who we learn are complete assholes, and will happen again. The best we can do is support one another and regularly tell the people who are out to hurt us to fuck right off.

#Harry Potter #Drarry #JKR #jk rowling #Tw: Transphobia #Tw: Suicidal thoughts #Batwynn Talks #TERFS DO NOT FUCKING INTERACT

[lore-gore]

I was looking for helluva boss praise and i found a post of someone crying and pissing their pants over the wedding scene from Ex's and Ooh's, screaming about how it's internalized homophobia from the show because it "tries to make gay men seem predatory" by having Moxxie forced to marry Chaz in a dress with dildos all around

I guess their arguments kinda made sense, but they were looking WAY too deep into it and ignoring the context from the episode and show itself.

Firstly, Moxxie is clearly down to date a guy, he literally stated that he was bisexual in that same episode, he just happens to be in a relationship and the guy his dad is forcing him to marry fucked him over. The point of Crimson forcing Moxxie to marry Chaz isn't to make gay men seem predatory, its to further solidify that Crimson is a ruthless person who only cares about keeping money, power, and control over everyone around him. If Chaz was a woman, he would still make Moxxie marry him.

Second, the dildo and dress thing isn't meant to be a serious thing, oh my god. IT IS LITERALLY MEANT TO BE A JOKE ABOUT CRIMSON'S BIGOTRY. He thinks that all bi guys are gay and that all gay guys like to wear dresses and have dildos all over the place. The goddamn dildos wouldn't even be there if it weren't for Chaz complaining that the seats weren't full.

And why can't we let queer people in media be bad people? Why do they always have to be 100% perfect all the time? Let queer couples be shitty, don't put them on a pedestal. And just because Moxxie happens to have one of the healthiest relationships in the show with a woman does NOT mean anything! Stolas and Stella's relationship is worse than any queer couple's that appeared on the show.

I'm done talking now. It just amazes me the lengths people will go to demonize a show they don't like.

Has anyone told you how fucking right you are?

It would be homophobic if Moxxie was straight, or Chaz was the only mlm guy. But he's not.

Also Chaz acts that way towards everyone. He's a shark on the hunt for a lay. They would have a better chance arguing it's panphobia instead.

And sometimes representing toxic queer relationships is a good thing. For example, in Ted Lasso, spoiler alert, Keeley's ex girlfriend lovebombed her, was ashamed of their relationship in front of old friend, and then dumped her because she essentially didn't do what she wanted.

Granted I could tell that it wasn't going to last, and felt sad it soured so quickly, but that doesn't mean it's bad representation.

In fact it's good representation. I had a similar experience with my ex girlfriend. She kept me a secret from her parents (which, nothing wrong with not feeling safe to come out, but I myself was out and proud, so maybe a relationship where the first time in my life I had to hide my sexuality wasn't a good thing). She lovebombed me (though I don't think on purpose), and then dumped me over text during school, so I was sobbing in class.

Helluva Boss's and Hazbin Hotel's characters are a majority queer, something you don't see often. It's one of the reasons I love this show.

Also "demon" haha get it.

#vivziepop #helluva boss #helluva praise #fuck antis

[angelsaxis]

I need the villain fuckers to know that many of you don't actually have a more nuanced view of your fave villain what you do have is the false assumption that being attracted to them or empathizing with them means you understand their story better and the same way villain haters can overstate some of the wrong things they did YOU are in fact biased toward downplaying their worst atrocities ESPECIALLY if they relate to bigotry because you find them hot, and someone who dislikes a villain calling them a bitch or a fash or a piece of shit and leaving it at that does not mean they don't understand the multiple roads it took for that character to get there, that is simply their plainly-stated conclusion. And you writing essays upon essays of heartfelt analyses that often completely ignore the villains hand in their own position in the story does not mean you understand them better or that you're media literate and anyone who hates the villain has the critical thinking of a five year old..this goes DOUBLY for when the villain is clearly a literal or metaphorical racist because for some reason y'all always gloss over that part.

#angel posts #the way the worst of the villain fuckers will completely ignore the villains choice to be a piece of shit #and they make them a complete victim #with no agency no self awareness

[terrence-silver]

I sometimes wonder why Terry went to Vietnam.

The way I see it, he must have volunteered. If he came from a wealthy family, the chances of him being successfully drafted would be low. Plus given his age, he probably would have had to fake some paperwork to enlist.

So why would he do this? What would drive a teenage Terrence Silver to jump through those hoops and go to war?

---

It is seldom considered that Terry Silver is and was just that patriotic.

I think everyone always overlooks that.

(Or at least, what Terry thought was patriotic through his skewed worldview, which, as we've seen in the 80's, very much outright festered into bigotry --- that much is quite literally canon.)

The history of young men from obscenely wealthy families and military dynasties serving in wars just because it is something men do isn't unbelievable, and in fact, it is incredibly frequent across all eras and cultural sensibilities. Men go to war. It is what men do, it is believed. Back when Terry would've been a boy entering young adolescence, somewhere in the very conventionally traditional 1950's, and even today, going to the army would be as common of a rite of passage as getting a driver's licence.

It doesn't need to be more complex than that.

Of course, we all love tall theories, me included.

But the answer can be very simple:

Terry Silver wanted to go serve in Vietnam.

Why? Because it is what is simply done.

It is the American way.

Historically, John T. Walton, and now the 11th richest man in the world and the founder of Walmart of all things, dropped out of college in 1968 served in Vietnam during the Tet Offensive. How about Fredrick Smith, the founder of FedEx, who after graduating Yale in 1966, served four years in the Corps? Various senators, the sons of politicians, entrepreneurs, individuals who were college educated in Ivy League schools, prominent old money in real time and in real life, served in wars --- not just in Vietnam. In Korea, in Afghanistan, in Iraq. Anywhere. Any time. All throughout history.

You could add Terry Silver's name to that list and it would be realistically plausible.

Now, we can always take into account that there could've been some peer pressure included. Maybe his family pushed him further into enlisting as soon as possible. Maybe a despotic parent was involved. Maybe his father. Maybe Silver men have always served and it is customary. Maybe it was intended to make an otherwise scrawny, wispy Terry 'into a man'. Maybe he would've been disinherited if he embarrassed the family by skipping such a crucial marker of manhood as serving in the army in a time of national crisis. Maybe Terry himself wanted to prove himself and return home a hero, garnering the admiration and praise he lacked, not realizing that being a Vietnam Vet in the years to come wouldn't be the glossy epithet he would've hope it would have been. Maybe he merely wanted to get out of an oppressive family environment and get a chance to, as he considered, just be on his own. In control of his own life for once. Like, all of these reasons can coexist, because no answer in life is ever that clean cut, but we can also account that a young Terry wanted to go too.

Maybe it was his parents who didn't want him to go and intended to for him to take over the family business as soon as possible and it was Terry who left overseas and went as far as faking documentations that would've allowed him to, not unlike a fugitive princeling heir off to make his own fortunes for himself.

That he had as much agency and desire in the decision as anyone else.

Ironically, Terry picked the wrong war to try and be a hero in.

And I think that became a sort of resentment towards anyone and everyone that followed him all throughout life afterwards and helped mold him into a very dark person indeed.

#terry silver #kk3 #cobra kai #vietnam #vietnam war #character analysis #terry silver twig #twig terry silver #military #army #terry silver headcanon #terry silver headcanons

[stargazer-balladeer]

HiHi enstarrie here. you liked some of my posts so I came and saw your rant.

Yes, you pretty much get it. this community has being going through a lot since engstars release, the fame it's getting but the lack of information it's spreading are things that we're not very happy about,,

You see, enstars is a game that heavily relies on reading. so imagine how we feel when the new players are coming here and doing everything but that. I accept it, we've been very sour towards the newbies because of their lack of information (I'm vv sorry) though Tumblr is pretty chill overall? there are other places like TikTok that are hosting misinformation sprees and it's very painfully and raging to watch. TwT

If you read the original story, you'll notice that Akira (one of the main writers) makes a lot of references to classic literature and plays. quotes poetry and other similar things !! Akira is a well cultured person, and his writing is part of the spark that brings joy to all the enst stories.

So imagine when the eng translation gets released. a tl not even made by english natives neither proofread by anyone. a tl that doesn't get all those references I spoke about. a tl that had to be purposely censored to avoid conflict (though I agree. there's bigotry and other problematic topics in a lot of stories) because western audiences are not good at handling them.

Happyele (the company who manages the game) is extremely strict with copyright. that's why you won't find a single leak about the game. why you won't easily find translations publicly (tls are actually illegal. that's why the wiki got nuked approximately a year ago) and that's why fan tls are a miracle. fans do get their references. fans make their investigations and their proofread with the most amazing quality, they're literally the miracle of this community.

Also, you pretty much got it !! "entering our community so violently" yes !! most of us feel that way. please don't get us wrong, I've seen some new players complain that we're being "rude" because of our silly gatekeeping; however, even if we're not receiving them with open arms and the biggest smile, we haven't harassed neither attacked anyone (actually we've been trying to help with guides and things).

As you said, this community has always been very small, so all of us know each other and all of us are in the same page (?) obviously since the game is getting more popular, more people are entering this place and I guess that makes us feel unsafe, since not everyone agrees on the same things once communities start growing.

I apologize for this ramble in your ask. with this I really don't want to discourage you to enter this franchise. actually most of us have been making guides on how to read stories and similar !! overall I just want to thank you. you're the first eng player I've seen that empathized with our situation 0(-(

I hope you have a nice day !! feel free to come to any of our blogs to inform yourself further if you feel like it.

Wah- well whoever you are behind that anon, i think you have an amazing writing 🫶 HSHHSHS PLS I’ve probbly already read most of the fics existed here in tumblr for enstars 🥲🥲

Anyway, I understand that ya’ll aren’t that welcoming ehehe its really scary qwq i’ve always hated when communities starts to grow, which means at some point, there’ll be uhm ✨ toxicity ✨ (*discreetly looks at one certain fandom*) it doesnt make it better when enstars is LITERALLY ON ADS QWQ everywhere i look there’ll be an enstars ad pls- but im still salty that they haven’t released from where im from >:(

And we all agree that eng translation can suck 😒😒 twst is another example of that smh

Thank you for the information 🫶🫶 i really appreciate it! Also thank you for taking the time to write this and for the guides ehehe (the sorry ramble part) its finee dont worry about it

I HOPE YOU HAVE A NICE DAY TOO !

#anon.txt

[viscountessevie]

I love the racism and sexism shown towards Edwina and Kate, esp. by white book fans:

They are mad that Edwina isn't simply a cheerleader for Anthony and Kate and instead is allowed to be angry. They also complain that she was too soft or naïve and they really don't like brown girls outside of stereotypes.

Also, there is a clear misunderstanding of Kate's role, especially in the context of her being the eldest in an Indian family (I'm black but similar dynamics) and mad that she isn't as 'gentle' as she is in the books.

FACTS ALL AROUND!! Honestly racist and sexist fans need to get the fuck out of here. There is NO place for your bigotry here especially not on this blog and if I ever get a hint of it in my DMs or Asks I will block you anons, just a warning for anyone wants to throw hate at me or my fave characters for having unpopular opinions about Daphne being a r*pist and me disliking Penelope as a character and her arc direction.

[It gets long more under the cut:]

Also those Kathony 'fans' who are being horrible about Edwina, I do not claim them, you cannot be a TVWLM fan without loving Eddie as much as Kate loves her. And yes the writers fucked up the Sharmas sister's relationship and bond but I still love and adore my Sharma girls and I hate hate that the writers pitted them against each other. Honestly Eddie cannot catch a break with the fans; if she's too soft or naive, she is a doormat and not her own character but if she's brash and loud, oh no go back you cannot be allowed to be angry and mean to Kate, you're a bitch Edwina. It's a double edged sword if she shows ANY type of emotion. It fucking sucks and it's exhausting and a real world issue a lot of brown girls like me face. Everything we do is criticised but Penelope can commit hate crimes and Daphne can literally r*pe someone and part of the fandom still celebrates them, I see you racist side of the fandom I see you.

Also about Kate's role: OHMYGOD TELL ME ABOUT IT and partially I will fault the writers for not explicitly explaining why Kate has this sort of an armour of a personality when it comes to the image she projects to the world, but rather its implied and to picked up on by POC fans who have had that experience of being the eldest child in a POC household. While white fans are ignorant to this very specific experience that we all go through.

So since the writers did a SHIT job of explaining it, I'll do it myself: Basically Kate is VERY similar to Anthony in the sense that she was parentified. If Mary had been more present like she was in the books, I don't think Kate would have been as badly parentified as in the show. I feel like in a way Kate took it upon herself to fill her father's role and parent Eddie alongside Mary and Show!Mary just never noticed because she just saw it as Kate being a good older sister. But like come on Mary, Kate gave Eddie her whole education - where were you?? Of course their show versions now have a parent-daughter relationship than sisters.

And it's fucking awful because they took away Mary's role within the Sharma family unit by adding on to Kate's eldest daughter burden to be a surrogate mom to Eddie. I am once again asking what the fuck was wrong with her storms and parent deaths being her trauma?? But nooo, Kate had to become the head of the household as if Mary isn't right there!!

Anyways I digress, and as a blanket statement I need people to know for this next section, I'm drawing from my own experience as a parentified eldest Indian daughter and so if you had a different experience as the eldest Indian daughter feel free to add on!! I just want yall to know I'm NOT speaking for ALL eldest Indian daughters.

Okay so basically Indian eldest daughters are way more parentified than Anthony ever was (not to compare but the shit we went through is so much more intense than Ant's story because mans was never whacked by Violet when he messed up) because in some cases like mine, our parents are always working and we'd end up babysitting and spending most of our time with our younger siblings more than our actual parents do. So automatically and unconsciously we end up parenting and raising our siblings. This shit starts young too, it didn't matter we had a helper to help with chores as a kid because she was helping keep the house clean while I had to mind my brothers.

It's just such a heavy burden to bear. And I would say for Kate its even heavier because she had to self-teach or at least sneak into the royal family classrooms to learn about all the things she taught Edwina. Even if she didn't teach Eddie all the 5 languages she speaks, she had to find a way to get Eddie those language books and practice with her - so on top of teaching herself all of these skills to depart to Eddie eventually to train to be the perfect debutante. On top of all of this - god knows where Show!Mary was - she had to raise Edwina because it is implied that like Violet, Mary was grieving and absent. WHICH IS THE WORST COS KATE HAD TO PUT ASIDE HER GRIEF AND MOVE ONTO MAKE SURE EDDIE WAS THE BEST and of good marriageable standards for the Marriage Mart.

Katharine Sharma (no I refuse to use her show government name - it's not real and it shows the writers didn't put an ounce of research into it) had roles upon roles and duties stack upon her (yes most of it she took upon herself but that's not the point I'm trying to make rn) with no one to share the burden with and she never really seemed to have grieved her father properly. She seemed like the type who threw herself into helping and raising Edwina instead of taking the time to grieve with Mary.

I don't know who needs to hear this, so due to all of this, OF COURSE she's not "gentle", she's traumatised and mentally ill! And this asshole who is not in love with her sister - who wants a love match - is trying to marry her, duh she's gonna be mean to him and protective over Eddie. People who criticise and villianised Kate for not fitting into their pliable white self-insert image of themselves, can fuck right off!! She is not responsible for the version of Kate you had in your head. She is her own person and very much Indian and this is gonna be hard for some of yall to hear but she's not for you and doesn't always need to be relatable to you.

That being said if you do see yourself in Kate, I love that for you!! But those of you who complain she's not nice or 'Kate from the books' anymore, of course she's not Kate Sheffield, she's Kate Sharma now and I still love her. I'm sorry you don't love both versions, it must be a sad existence not liking the new and amazing Kate Sharma that Simone Ashley brought to life.

Anyways, if yall read til the end, thank you so much for reading and @minim236 babes thanks for sending this ask!! Sorry I went off for a bit ahahah I just needed people to know this blog will not tolerate any Kate hate or slander.

#Bridgerton #kate sharma #kathony #The Sharmas #Mary Sharma #Anthony mention #Daphne Critical #Penelope Critical #Michaela Tag #I have discussed points in this post with the GC so I'm tagging them #Kanthypants & Eldest Daughters GC #Asks

[wolf-queer-discourse]

Adventures in Aphobia #1

So I was scrolling through Tumblr the other day (a regrettable mistake as always), and I had the great pleasure of seeing this joyous post.

*deep breath*

Not gonna lie, posts like this make me real pissed. Pissed because the person who posted this exists in a space where they feel comfortable enough to post this online. Pissed because these posts are so common and often face little backlash. And pissed because there’s nothing better than allosexuals condescendingly explaining to asexual people why they’re dirty attention whores who invent their own oppression. Ace people deserve to be defended against this horseshit. Young people see these posts, and it’s extremely damaging to have your identity be nothing more than fuel for people in discourse to mock you and demand you bled in order for them to notice your pain.

Anger aside, many people do not see why this post is wrong, so why is it? Let’s unpack this clusterfuck of bigotry:

“would love to see substantive evidence of systematic “aphobia” that isn’t actually just misogyny, toxic masculinity, or rpe culture.”

God damn, we are not mincing our words here XD. A few things: systematic in bold, which tells you if you do not make a blood sacrifice on the altar of queer pain you will not be taken seriously. Potential nitpick, but systemic and systematic are not the same thing. I believe systemic is the word they’re looking for. Systematic implies a lot more intentionality that can be hard to prove. Systemic merely means that systems, in their current state, do aphobic things, which they absolutely do.

“Aphobia” in quotes is absolutely rich. Not only will this person refuse to acknowledge systemic aphobia, which is only one type, but this poster casts clear doubt upon the mere concept of aphobia in and of itself. We love to see it.

There’s a lot to unpack here. The statement, as clearly condescending as intended, is sort of correct, though it doesn’t mean a whole lot. Systemic oppression is about the systems in a society (government, healthcare, etc) discriminating against people. Systemic oppression is not bigotry faced on a person-to-person level. In short, systematic oppression is something a person experiences in their overall life, while personal discrimination is experienced on a personal level by people who are not singularly in control of the systems. This post boils down the negative comments ace people face into being called “weird”, which is an understatement for sure, but calling a gay person weird isn’t systemic oppression either.

It’s still bad and discriminatory.

This is such a snotty way to dismiss aphobia as some mere, insignificant comment with no meaning as if it doesn’t reinforce society’s painful aphobic views in the same way casual homophobic comments reinforce heteronormativity and society’s hostility toward gay people.

Ace people face discrimination in healthcare, most notably, which is systemic discrimination, but the systemic discrimination of asexuals really ought to be its own post if I’m to nosedive into it. Even if ace people faced no systemic discrimination, it wouldn’t make this point anymore correct. Discrimination is a perfectly valid reason to feel disregarded by society, and often only ace people are denied the right to feel this way and are instead gaslit into admitting what they face is no big deal and they’re just making it up for attention.

The experience of being pressured to have sex when you’re allo vs ace is very different. The vast majority of allo people do not plan to be celibate their whole lives. Many ace people do not want to have sex, ever. “Waiting for sex” in much of western society and in Christianity is seen as pure and honorable. Yet being asexual and never wanting sex is seen as a deviant disorder and people are accused of robbing their partner of sex forever.

There’s really a specific flavor of sexual pressure that is unique to ace people. Sex being to “fix” someone or because they “just need to try it”.

In this respect, aphobic sexual pressure is better compared to that faced by gay people and lesbians. Lesbians especially often can face this same struggle, men pressuring them to have sex because they think lesbians just need to “try it” or to “fix them”. I can imagine this poster would have no issue acknowledging lesbophobia being the root of lesbians coerced into sex with men, yet she does not give ace people the same.

Imagine if someone said (and knowing our fucked world, someone probably has): “Lesbophobia doesn’t exist. It’s just misogyny. Straight women are coerced into sex too!”

It’d be pathetic bullshit. Toxic masculinity, misogyny and many other issues can all tangle into combined messes with other forms of bigotry. Lesbophobia is an experience that deserves to be recognized apart from misogyny, even if the two are linked. Please stop erasing ace people’s experiences with this when it’s not the same thing.

Honestly, though, this post, as trashy as it is, if anything, is perhaps, really asking: Is there any type of aphobic experience that’s inherently exclusive to ace people?

I still wager to go say, yes, yes there is, but I must make an important point first:

Most experiences of queer discrimination are not limited to queer people.

Homophobia and transphobia are both experienced by cishets in certain instances. Feminine straight men can be victims of homophobic harassment. This does not disprove the fact that it’s homophobia just because a straight man is the victim of it. A tall cis woman with broad shoulders and a lower voice may be the victim of transphobic remarks or comments. The basis of these comments is rooted in transphobia, however, so the fact that the victim is cis does not erase the transphobia.

People who argue that experiences ace people complain about can be experienced by allosexuals are not poking a legitimate hole in doing this. Certain experiences related to aphobia can and are experienced by allosexuals. If you do not acknowledge this, then homophobia and transphobia aren’t real because cishet people have sometimes experienced them.

Despite cishets sometimes experiencing queerphobia, most of us acknowledge that their experience of that bigotry, however unfortunate, is not the same as that experienced by actual queer people. It’d be quite homophobic for a feminine straight man to claim he knew just as much about the gay experience as an actual gay man. Similarly, when allosexual people relate experiences that were rooted in aphobia, it’s overstepping a line when they claim asexual discrimination isn’t real because they experienced elements of it too.

Cishet (cishet including allosexuals) people do not experience their doctors telling them their sexuality might be a disorder or caused by trauma. Allo queer people can experience this with their sexualities too.

“using sex appeal to sell products is misogyny, it is not engineered to gross sex-repulsed people, it is meant to objectify women.”

This is a strawman thinner than my last nerve. Uh, what? What ace people are you seeing that literally think sex appeal was engineered to gross-out sex-repulsed people?? I don’t think this is a core argument??

Yes, sex-repulsed ace people sometimes complain about sex appeal in media being uncomfortable. But that’s it. Every time an ace person shares a discomfort of theirs doesn’t mean it’s the entire basis of their oppression. For the love of God, let ace people discuss their experiences without being blow-torched over not being oppressed enough with an individual discomfort. 

BONUS ROUND

(This was in the tags)

“Completely vilifies celibate individuals” 

...no…? What…? Huh…? 

The most charitable interpretation of this vague accusation is that the poster means celibate people face aphobia as well, due to not wanting to have sex. I have no idea how this “vilifies” anyone, but that aside, as said before: people who are not queer can face aphobia. Also worth noting that society treats celibate people way better than ace people, which is really another example of aphobia. Celibate people can be told they’re missing out (which could be at very least related to aphobic ideals), but they’re rarely called broken. Celibacy is seen more as a respected, controlled ideal in allo people, but when ace people want to do it, they’re just mentally ill.

Anyway, the post was aphobic trash, and it needs to be debunked more often. Mocking ace people online is not a good look anymore, guys. Don't be ugly.

#discourse #queer discourse #LGBT discourse #Adventures in Aphobia #ace discourse #asexual discourse #aphobia #ace discrimination #asexual #asexuality #LGBT #queer #ace #rant #aphobes have no shame but they should #imagine having a brain smoother than a banana peel

[thechangeling]

My thoughts concerning the downworld

I wrote this two years ago but I can't find the original post since tumblr's tagging system is a literal joke. So I'm re-posting it!

Alright. So I was rereading The Mortal Instruments and I sort of realized something that really pissed me off. Of course we all know that in every book there is discrimination against the downworld in forms of outright bigotry and hate comments or just ignorance and confusion. However I personally have been noticing lately how in all the books there is very little catharsis after those moments. There are no instances of any downworlder actively turning around and just Going. Off. I mean like really going off. Like have you seen protests with emotionally charged and wronged people? They are fucking livid because they have every right to be. I personally have been in situations like this regarding combating LGBTQ hate and there is nothing more satisfying then just letting lose because you have had enough of this treatment. I often compare Downworlders in this fictional society to marginalized people in our real one.  Some people disagree with that idea and that's fine but it's always how I perceived it.  For instance, take moments like Tessa Gray in The Infernal devices walking into that room filled with Downworlder body parts being displayed as trophies is very similar to white settlers hunting down Indigenous people to display their heads as trophies. No one talks about that horrifying practice enough in our society just like the fandom doesn't talk about what happened to Tessa. She deserved catharsis in that moment and so did we.

The Clave has not apologized to the Downworlder community for the events of the circle to the best of my knowledge. Most Shadowhunters don't even believe it's their responsibility to take ownership for what happened because it wasn't them and it is "in the past". Just like most white people (and full disclaimer, I say this as a white person) believe that it is not their responsibility to apologize for the events of the past (colonialism).  In the Dark Artifices there is talk of registering downworlds just like the Jewish people in the 40s and non-white immigrants today. (Because let's be honest the only immigrants Trump wants to get rid of are the non-white ones) Speaking of that asshole, Horace Dearborn is obviously based on him. QOAAD came out right in the middle of the racist shitstorm ravaging the US and the similarities are obviously striking. So my point is, if all of this is very noticable, why is there very little catharsis for those of us who can relate to these characters and these situations? I myself am angry along with them and I desperately want to see justice done. Real justice. Now that the cohort is locked in Idris and Alec has become consul it may seem like the problem is supposedly solved. Not really. Shadowhunters still have some stepping stones to cross in order to make things right in my opinion. I really dont want to see everyone, (especially Downworlders) just brush all those issues to the side and pretend like they're over.

  I also have a problem with certain Shadowhunters being praised as "Downworlder saviors" kind of like white savior complex. Although I might not be the best person to talk about this. If you are a POC and you disagree with me on this then please let me know because I never want to speak over any POC. This is just something that has been rubbing me the wrong way. For example, Livia's watch and the use of it as a downworlder rights group. As much as I understand Julian wanting to honor his lost sister. Using her as some sort of beacon for Downworlder rights really is not fair because she just wasn't. Also I find it really uncomfortable that a Shadowhunter, Julian, is trying to take control of a Downworlder rights group and say what it should be and how it should be organized. It just strikes me as a little white saviory. Continuing on with the whole white savior conversation, I was talking with a friend and we couldn't help but notice that the narrative of CC's books is very problematic seeing as there are the "good Shadowhunters" trying to save the downworld from the "bad Shadowhunters" because for some reason Downworlders need saving and should be grateful for the help of the good Shadowhunters. Also Shadowhunters are a lot like cops, and when I say that I do mean killing marginalized people for no reason and enforcing racist laws, type cops. But Cassie writes this narrative of the good cops who aren't like that who want to change the system.

This contributes to the whole "There are some bad apples sure, but there are also some good cops" mentality. This is pretty frickin problematic, especially given current events.

  CC also paints the narrative to be against Downworlders who are rightly furious with the Clave and shadowhunters as a whole and have some hatred for nephilim kind as a result of, oh you know.... hundred years of oppression, violence and discrimination. They become the villains of the story like Barnabas and Shinyun, and to make sure you know they're the villains, CC needs to sprinkle in typical shady cult like villain behavior into the narrative. All of the good downworlders are either friends with or dating shadowhunters, or are at least somewhat sympathetic to Shadowhunters like Ragnor. Does anyone see the problem with this? So now being angry and bitter towards your oppressors is villian behavior? Great message CC. Absolutely wonderful.

I also have a problem with Shadowhunters not wanting to kill members of the cohort when they are literal nazis. You don't redeem people like that! If the cohort were Downworlders and not Shadowhunters then they would have killed them and that's just the tea.

I'm sorry I know this is a lot of words to read but I just needed to vent. If you disagree with of course feel free to share your opinion in the comments.

@amchara @sandersgrey this was what I was referencing

#tsc #tda #the dark artifices #tmi #tid #twp #the downworld #fae rants #tw racism

[imhaitusncarnate]

I have very mixed feelings on that aot ending

Ok so the politics of Attack on Titan have been discussed by a lot of people, some of whom have a very surface- level understanding of the story. I would like to start by giving my disclaimer that Attack on Tiatan ABSOLUTELY isn’t fascist, its anti racism, anti bigotry and anti discrimination themes are extremely apparent in it’s examination of the Eldians inside Marley, and fascist views held by characters such as Gabi are explicitly condemned in the text and made clear to be misguided and false. 

I would now like to draw everyone’s attention to the openings of seasons 1 and 2. 

Images like these combined with lyrics like these:

You pigs who sneer at our will to step over corpses and march onwards Enjoy the peace of livestock false prosperity "freedom" of the dying wolves that hunger

We dedicate and sacrifice our hearts

And also the use of german lyrics:

Sie sind das Essen und Wir sind die Jaeger! (they are the food and we are the hunters)

O, mein Freund! Jetzt hier ist ein Sieg. Dies ist der erste Glorie. O, mein Freund! Feiern wir diesen Sieg, für den nächsten Kampf!

(O, my friend! Now, here is a victory. This is the first glory. O, my friend! Let us celebrate this victory for the next battle!)

This is the stuff that lead me to believe that this is a deliberate use of fascist imagery. If the show just wanted to go for a militaristic vibe for the aesthetic of it, references this explicit to fascist propaganda and the use of German lyrics was not necessary. Also, lines like this:

And plenty of evidence that things were not what they seemed it the world of aot and that the overly simplistic view of good vs evil (humans vs the titans) was incorrect led me to believe that Attack on Titan was a deliberate deconstruction. That it was putting the audience into the mindset of the fascists to pull the rug from under their feet later. And I was right. Sort of.

As the story progresses, the world becomes a more and more complex political landscape and we are led to believe that this black and white mentality is wrong. We are also informed that the people who can transform into titans, the Eldians, are an opressed minority, explicitly paralleled to the Jews during nazi Germany, from their living in internment camps, to them being called devils, to their armbands, to a large number of them (our heroes) being confined in an island with walls circling them, which is revealed by Isayama to be Madagascar. The island that the nazis originally meant to confine the Jewish population in before arriving at the conclusion that that would be too costly, and that genocide was preferable. 

This is the first of the story’s mixed metaphors. While the show’s heart is in the right place, being sympathetic to the Eldians and showing their plight under marleyan opression and persecution, there is one problem. The reason for the opression of the Eldians is because the world is afraid of their power, as they are a race with the ability to transform into titans. There is, therefore, a tangible, justification for their internment. The Jews were not in any conceivable way a danger to anyone, they were simply scapegoated for the complex socioeconomic problems of Germany in the time period. Also, if we take a look at those openings again, we observe that the Eldians (our main characters) who wish to free themselves from their shackles are framed as fascists. So... what is that saying?

 The idea, as I see it, is that the story is condemning fanaticism in general, as a biproduct of a militaristic black and white worldview. The monstrous titans that our (framed as fascist) heroes fight against are revealed to be human, just like them.

The same is the case for the Eldian “devils” that the Marleyans fight against. Gabi, the character who is most fanatically against Eldians (despite being an Eldian herself) is comfronted with the humanity of the people she hates once she gets to know them.

Again, Isayama’s heart is on the right place here, trying to condemn bigotry, however the explicit referencing of history is the imagery is kind of misplaced, for the reasons I previously mentioned. Now let’s have a look at Eren Yeager.

Eren starts the story as a kind of messed up kid. He kills the human traffickers who kidnapped Mikasa while screaming:

I mean, in this case he is certainly justified, but his rage and anger are definitely not normal for a child his age.

This is Eren. He can’t stand injustice when he sees it. And injustice is what happens to him when the titans attack. His already fiery attitude and mindset is what leads him to this declaration of revenge:

That side of Eren is visible throughout the story and it’s foreshadowing for what he will later become

Eren, however, is a natural product of his environment. Ravaged by socioconomic inequality, with the rich living in the centre of the walls and the poor living in the outskirts, constantly under the threat of the titans and unable to obtain any kind of freedom, Eren’s philosophy of the need to be strong to overcome one’s enemies makes sense. The mantra “the strong prey on the weak”, that he ends up teaching Mikasa (another allusion to fascist ideology) is a biproduct of the world he lives in. He does not know of the political intricasies outside the walls. All he knows is he must kill the titans.

Eren’s titan is described as the “manifestation of humanity’s rage. It is huge and monstrous, and could be seen as a metaphor for vengeful hatred in general. Keep that in mind, it’s relevant for the ending.

This manufactured and false black and white worldview shapes him as a character, and it’s what eventually, after the arrival at the much desired ocean, leads him to this:

“Will we finally be free?”

In the continuation of the story, Eren falls toward the dark side more and more, to the point of committing atrocities and war crimes that are explicitly framed as being similar to what he suffered as a child (see his actions in Liberio). He even acknowledges that, telling Reiner, the person who committed said war crimes against him, that he essentially has no hard feelings and understands that the two of them are similar, doing what “needs to be done”. The character of Gabi, who, after what happens in Liberio, becomes obsessed with revenge against the Eldian “devils” is meant to be a foil for Eren, and his obsession with killing the titans after what happened to him. 

Extremely interesting is the way in which certain ideas and images are flipped in the later seasons. Namely, in season 4, we see a character who idolizes Mikasa and supports Eren’s plans in a scene where she spouts the same mantra of “the strong prey on the weak” and says that Mikasa saving her is what showed her that only with strength she can defeat her enemies. Mikasa tells her to shut up, and she proceeds to do the salute, that has been so glamorized by the show’s openings thus far. Now, it is done by a person from a military faction with a fanatic worldview. The direction doesn’t glamorize it at all. It is a nuanced, almost masterful deconstruction. 

Levi, who has always looked for reasons for why his comrades had t die, justifying their heroism and convincing himself that their deaths were not pointless, ends up here:

At this point, I was in love with Attack on Titan. From here, it only figures that Eren ends up attempting a genocide of the people outside the walls. He has essentally become what he hated the most, and he’s a natural result of the world that created him. Despite his noble intentions, he has turned into a monster. Mikasa, the prerson who loved him the most, completes her character arc by killing him, thus rejecting her blind devotion to him and being free, while at the same time continuing to love the person he once was. It’s a sad and tragic ending, painting Eren as a tragic character and making a pretty strong political point, despite having a few mixed metaphors.

And then, chapter 139 came out...

And Eren apparently pulled a Lelouch. This is a “I purposfully turned myself into a monster to save the world and make my friends into heroes for killing me” kind of thing. It is important to state that the manga makes it clear that Eren would have trampled the world even if they didn’t stop him, because of his urge to be free. However, that urge, that fighting spirit, end up being a good thing. The death of our heroes in battle apparently wasn’t pointless after all. They say goodbye with a salute

The Yeagerists, who were previously framed as fanatics, end up in charge of the government

It is important to state that the real event, the catalyst of the ending, is that killing Eren, who has turned himself literally into the manifestation of humanity’s rage (which has now, through the intricacies of the story, taken the political meaning of hatred and intergenerational trauma), eliminates the power of the titans. The titans are no more. This, in of itself, is good, and in keeping with the spirit of the political commentary thus far. However, the war, is still not over, and Eren’s mantra ends up being correct

So the only way for the war to end is one of the races to be wiped out? 

Also, despite Eren’s genocide being wrong, it is, in the end, justified, as a necessary evil by the story. An Ozymandias kind of moment in which the ends justify the means, but Eren himself has to die, because his crime was too great for him not to suffer punishment. Essentially, this chapter undoes all of the insightful commentary the story had made so far, by proving the ideology of its main character right. Story- wise this isn’t a bad ending, but if we take into account the political references the series has made, and its desire to explicitly tie itself with such imagery makes the ending leave a really bad taste in my mouth. What it essentally says, is that, yes, bigotry and racism are bad, yes, blind hatred is bad, but the general idea of might makes right and the impossibility of reconciliation are true. Armin, who has, throughuout the story, been Eren’s opposite, in terms of looking for peaceful solutions to conflict is rendered meaningless in the end, because him alongside with the other characters were all playing into Eren’s plans. The hearts of our main characters as recruits were in the right place, their fighting spirit admirable, and the overall worldview we are presented with in the beginning of the story remains more or less unchallenged. 

So where does that leave this imagery?

The conclusion is that one must think very carefully before including allegory in their work. I am not accusing Isayama for fascism, and I appreciate the efforts at deconstructing it throughout the story. However, in the end he did an oops I accidentally justified the mentality I was trying to condemn. I still like Attack on Titan, I believe it has artistic value and is overall a pretty good anime, I even agree with its politics to an extent. However, it is very important to critically examine the things we like, and see where they may have gone south. And this ending is that for me.

#attack on titan #aot #snk #shingeki no kyojin #snk spoilers #snk meta #aot meta #politics #anime

[surveillance-0011]

TBOI Headcanons: Horsemen

Death

He/him

He’s...nice. Not a good person by any means but he’s the most polite of the bunch. Kind of strange though. Creepily calm, a bit sarcastic, and he has a pretty morbid view on the world.

Reserved and usually grumpy. He can be rather chipper off-duty, though. Putting up with the others takes a lot of energy from him.

Tired....

A bit neurotic but good at coming off as a down-to-earth guy.

He’s the most book-smart of the bunch and he’s fairly wise. A bit emotionally stunted, but he tries his best to be mature and make the right choices.

Death is more than a bit nihilistic and pessimistic. He has a hard time just... caring, mostly about himself.

Not to say he’s completely apathetic, he can be pretty empathetic but he tries not to act on that too much because if he did his job would have broken him by now.

He likes to think he’s got it all under control, but he does not. He’s more prone to pettiness and stupid decisions than he’d like to admit.

That being said he’s been pretty good with like. Growing and maturing though. He’s changed more than he realizes in just in the past.... decade or so ago. A bit of a late start for an immortal but hey at least he’s slightly less of a scumbag.

It’s usually not easy to anger him unless he’s really tired or something’s already set him off. When something does piss him off badly he’s a bit prone to freaking out. He’s not very good at handling his emotions. 

Sees his own job as a necessary evil, because hey, someone’s gotta do it.

Interested in botany/gardening, as well as literature.

Genuinely nice- or at least polite- to the kids when he’s not supposed to be murdering them. He sees no reason to go out of his way to do so, especially since unwarranted cruelty towards others has only bit him in the ass.

Famine’s older brother. The two have always had each other’s backs.

Diligent, and always considers the logistics to things instead of acting on emotion alone.

Protective of the other horsemen.

Pretty short tbh

His horse’s name is Chili.

Famine

She/he (bigender). You can use both interchangeably or only use one set, she doesn’t care. Fine with they/them too but it’s never really clicked w/ him enough to be preferred.

Usually prefers more masculine terms (brother, sir, mr...) but fine with anything.

.Flips between bouncing off the walls and having no energy whatsoever.

Impulsive, she’s got terrible judgement and has the most idiotic of ideas sometimes.

Fairly easygoing, tries to forgive and forget and doesn’t let little transgressions get to her

Actually pretty damn sad. Needs some self care but never looks after herself.

I mean she’s optimistic and usually happy but like. There’s always just a bit of sadness, you know? He’s dealt with a lot and it’s definitely taken its toll on him.

Disaster Lesbian

Tries to be a graceful loser but she can get a bit more competitive than she’d like to admit.

Has a hard time relating to others and considering how they feel, at least when it comes to anything more complex than “bad thing happened now I’m sad/mad” He’s a drifter by nature, always onto the next big thing for a quick thrill.

Eats a lot. It’s never enough.

Plants and a good deal of food will decay if she touches them, or even gets too close to them.

Like his brother he has some interest in nature. Famine is more on the adventurous side, though. She’s tried to live off the land a few times with varying success.

Named her horse Frisk

Pestilence

He/him

Calm, quiet, but also a pessimistic jackass.

Always in a bad mood. I mean, he’s permanently sick with just about everything contagious and deadly. You’d be grumpy, too!

Surprisingly high pain tolerance. A good deal of his nerves have probably just.. shut down or something. Or maybe he’s just numb to everything after a lifetime of pain.

Sleeps a lot

Dislikes his situation a lot, but doesn’t mind the company of the others.

Lazarus is terrified of this dude. The other kids are mostly grossed out or annoyed by him.

Likes to be alone.

Fairly smart, but comes off as absent minded bc he’s pretty much too sick to function. He slips up a lot and he’s pretty damn clumsy

Probably the most rational of the bunch, when he’s not in airplane mode. 

He’s also got a fairly strong moral compass. He doesn’t really like fighting the kids unlike War and Famine. Or just having to go up against people in general. Hell he hates the fact people get sick because of him. At the very least Pest has higher standards and is fairly transparent

But that isn’t to say he’s a good person. Yeah he doesn’t go out of his way to hurt others for shits and giggles and He’s Not Conquest but he doesn’t ever object to any of the shit the kids are put through and well. Yknow he still does kill them. He will also encourage some of War’s antics when it’s against someone he dislikes.

Tries to be as supportive as he can for the others. He knows he can’t do too much without overexerting so he tries to be encouraging and comforting as he can.

This compassion usually isn’t extended to humans, though.

Not very emotive, the only emotions he ever really expresses would be disdain and mild concern.

Not very fond of Conquest but they don’t hate each other. They actually work together well, too.

Friends with Mahalath. They’re pretty close!

His horse’s name is Moses.

War

He/it

He’s not very friendly, he’s pretty defensive and always on edge.

Out of all the horsemen, he’s probably the one closest with the Beast.

Lots of scars n injuries, it’s practically stitched together

One gold tooth

Impulsive, prefers solving issues through violence than through reason.

He can be fairly clever, though.

Intentionally angers/upsets others, likes causing problems and ruining things for people.

Desires wealth and power

Gets burnt out pretty quickly.

Emotional, insecure, and sensitive, and he hates this part of him. Definitely overcompensates for it.

Explosive temper, quite literally. Catches fire when upset and explodes if it’s more intense. Damage done to him also makes it happen. It’s not entirely voluntary but can be held off, and his “sobbing” sprite is him doing exactly that (but he’s probably also trying not to cry lmao). In the Ultra War fight, however...

Its daily routine leaves a lot to be desired. It wakes up, goes to work, then it goes home and just. Sits and rots.

Also, his diet is god awful. Please just eat a fruit or vegetable for once maybe you’d feel better goddamn.

He cannot remember if his horse is actually a horse or not but uhh he named her Bellum.

Conquest

He/they.

High and mighty sort of attitude. Can be very selfish. Stubborn, set in his ways. Gets defensive if you call him out or tell him he’s wrong.

Gay + nonbinary but in the closet (and denial) about both of those things. They’re trying to unlearn years’ worth of internalized bigotry.

Used to be worse, now trying to unlearn his toxic behaviors. But he’s still awful.

Doesn’t remember anything before their death. However they’ve held very strong Christian (specifically Catholic) beliefs all their life and they have a pretty black and white way of thinking.

Very cold and clinical. He has a bit of a temper but there’s a sort of calmness to everything he does even when he’s pissed.

Just as argumentative and aggressive as War but like more of a threat.

The others call him Connie sometimes, especially Death, who practically almost always calls him by this nickname.

Doesn’t harbor ill will towards Pestilence. They might have been overshadowed, but it’s not Pestilence’s own fault. If anything, being out of the spotlight has been good for Conquest, even if they do miss the attention sometimes. The only reason the two dislike each other is because their personalities clash.

Now if there’s anyone he hates that would be the Headless Horseman. Fuck that guy amiright

Very protective of Death. The two are close, Death is probably the only person who is consistently nice to him.

Utterly terrified of needles (hypodermic, not sewing needles, though he’s not good with sharp objects tbh) and medical stuff makes him anxious

Seems very... off. Just weird vibes but no one can pin point what about him is wrong.

Oh uh and his horse’s name is Josephine.

#the binding of isaac #binding of isaac #tboi conquest #tboi death #tboi war #tboi pestilence #tboi famine #tboi headcanons #long post #some of this is tentative but for the most part this is just. here to stay

[bestworstcase]

farran rereads lost lagoon: chapters 16-17

back at it.

re: romance novel: “I saw a patch of red flowers, and I thought they would be striking against Cass’s dark hair. She wasn’t exactly a flower wearer, but maybe she’d let me pin one on her dress? The color would set off her fair skin so perfectly. And she could at least keep some in a vase by her bed. I refused to believe there was a person alive who didn’t feel better with freshly cut flowers in her room.” that’s gay rapunzel

i do admittedly have some ambivalent feelings about this passage. on the one hand it’s - yes, very gay. but also it feels to me like such a clear illustration of the difficulty rapunzel has with empathy and listening to other people when their experiences or expectations or needs diverge from hers; she acknowledges that cass isn’t into flowers, but follows it up with “but maybe i can get her to wear some anyway,” and of course there’s the whole refusing to believe anyone could feel differently about having flowers in their room than she does. and it also has this weird undercurrent of - god, i don’t know how to phrase it in a succinct way.

this specific passage was on my mind when i wrote this bit in moonless air chapter 4: 

Still. She plucks at the stitches of her jack-of-plate, self-conscious.

It’s the nicest thing she owns. Soft green velvet sewn over sturdy layers of canvas and steel. Armor. She’d saved up for more than a year to buy it for herself on the anniversary of her adoption two years ago, and at the time it had been nothing but a frivolous luxury. Stupid, really. She’d never had real reason to wear it in Herzingen, not for anything besides teaching herself how to move with its weight and entertaining ridiculous fantasies—but last night, Moira had intimated that their destination in Vardaros is fancy as well as dangerous. So the jack seemed… appropriate.

Sharp. She twitches.

Clothing—fashion isn’t– Cassandra’s always hated dresses. It’s a trait that demands a certain amount of indifference to what other people think of her appearance.

And she can do indifference. Cassandra has indifference in spades. But nobody’s ever paid her a compliment quite like that before: baldly appreciative. Straightforward. Not like all the times Rapunzel coaxed her into tolerating crowns of late-summer flowers because the colors look so nice with your complexion! and not like the Commander’s gruff praise for how grown-up she looked in the hideous pastel gowns that had come with the lady-in-waiting gig.

because – like, cass is butch, and “not a flower wearer,” and here in lost lagoon we have this passage where rapunzel expresses this pretty straightforward attraction to cassandra but in the context of imagining cassandra presenting in a much more feminine way than she is comfortable with - in a dress with flowers in her hair etc - and it just... rubs me the wrong way a little bit. and this is not to say like cass can’t be butch and put a flower in her hair but when it’s paired with rapunzel specifically acknowledging that cass doesn’t WANT to wear flowers then it - yeah i feel weird about this passage. 

and that translated into cass having a whole little crisis over being complimented for her appearance without implicit pressure to be more feminine for the first time ever

anyways

i still can’t get over the name monsieur lefleur 

rapunzel summarizes hervanian culture as “brash but can be funny; distrustful but not mean-spirited” so, basically, they are americans

she is feeling very Prepared to meet with them, in contrast to every other time she’s met with foreign dignitaries or nobility before this. eugene tries to warn her that cass is PISSED with her and she just brushes him off, as one does, by saying that cass is “not all bubbles and moonbeams” but that she is “a softy” inside. 

of course this leads up to cass blowing up and going off while rapunzel tries to calm her down and just - groan this line. 

“People don’t change! You told a criminal a detail that puts my entire future at risk!”

how many times have i said “cass doesn’t act this way in tts” i feel like it’s a constant drumbeat. but i have to say, again, that cass doesn’t act this way in tts. i don’t think it’s unrealistic for her to think like this, given that her father is essentially corona’s chief of police and she idolizes him, but i feel the need to reiterate that there is zero sign of cass having this mindset in tts proper. and it does sort of bother me when people read this into cass’s character because it undermines and delegitimizes her dislike of eugene in early s1. 

which like. tts itself sort of frames their mutual dislike as a mutual problem, but it’s... really not? and imo the best illustration of this is in this exchange from cassandra vs eugene: 

CASSANDRA: Unbelievable. Did you eat all the cookies?

EUGENE: I’m not a pig, Cassandra. I ate all of your cookies; I’m saving mine for later.

CASSANDRA: Ugh– you are nothing but a self-serving, inconsiderate, arrogant freeloader!

EUGENE: [scoffing] You know, I can rattle off insulting adjectives describing your personality, too, but to do so would imply that you actually have a personality, and I just wouldn’t feel right about doing that!

this is the dynamic every time they squabble in early s1. 

1 - eugene does something selfish or thoughtless - in this case taking all the cookies and milk for himself. 

2 - cassandra calls him out for it, and he doubles down, often taking a potshot at her in the process. 

3 - cassandra gets mad and calls his behavior what it is (self-serving, inconsiderate, arrogant)

4 - eugene gets defensive and insults her as a person, typically with variations on calling her icy / unfeeling / humorless / joyless. 

which is to say, their fights are initiated by eugene’s poor behavior, and cassandra attacks his behavior but eugene attacks cassandra herself. like, eugene is the dude who insults you and then goes “pfft why can’t you take a joke” when you get upset with him. that’s what this is. 

moreover, when eugene’s, for lack of a better term, residual flynn rider-ness starts to taper off, cassandra’s criticism of his behavior also tapers off, AND she gets much gentler about how she phrases this criticism once he starts to actually take it on board. but there’s no accompanying shift in the way eugene speaks to and about her - the jibes about her being humorless or cranky or soulless literally never stop and at no point does he ever seem to consider that cass might not appreciate them as much as he thinks she does. 

(to be clear, i don’t think they bother cass very much if at all - but they do create and reinforce a perception on eugene’s end that cass Doesn’t Have Feelings and the background radiation of that contributes to the toxicity that develops in season 2.)

like again, pulling from cassandra vs eugene here, eugene is extremely insulting towards cassandra even when he’s ostensibly coming to her defense: 

RANDOM THUG: Look at that, Fancy-Boots has got something to say!

EUGENE: Name-calling? Come on, we’re better than that, aren’t we? Sure, we could sit here and make fun of each other—tease Cassandra for her chronic joylessness, or me for my uncommonly good looks, or you for your poor dental hygiene, tragic fashion sense, robust body odor, and what are clearly woefully misguided decision making skills, but do you really want to go down that road?

ALL OF WHICH IS TO SAY - besides demonstrating an obvious willingness to give eugene another chance once he starts doing the bare minimum to not be a dick to her, cassandra doesn’t like eugene because eugene is an asshole to her and takes the enormous privileges he is given completely for granted. 

saying “well she doesn’t like him because he was a criminal and she doesn’t believe criminals ever change” erases that completely and reframes the conflict as cassandra treats eugene unfairly because of bigotry that she needs to unlearn. lost lagoon takes this even one step further in that lost lagoon eugene is genuinely trying to be responsible, he is taking his new lot in life seriously. he doesn’t need cass to tell him off for acting like an ass because he doesn’t act like an ass. he shows actual interest in getting to know cass and makes an effort to break through her hostility in order to get along. unlike his tts counterpart, lagoon eugene really doesn’t do anything wrong, and that makes cassandra’s intense hatred of him on the grounds that he was a thief look completely irrational and, like i said, bigoted. 

it’s just very frustrating to me.

anyways

rapunzel tries very hard to persuade cass that it’s actually totally fine that she told eugene the secret because she just can’t keep secrets from eugene (except the lagoon which she has arbitrarily decided is totes fine to keep secret and i am pretty sure this contradiction never gets pointed out) - and cass is having none of it, and of course arianna interrupts before anything can get resolved. 

they rush out and monsieur lefleur interrupts them, asking questions about the lost lagoon. he reveals that he heard an ~elegant cloaked person~ inquiring about it in the library. he asks for the book. they say no. the red herring smells to high heavens, and the chapter ends with rapunzel subtly telling cass to hide the book ~for the safety of the kingdom~ and oh my god i just can’t handle the low stakes. 

seventeen picks up from there with cassandra’s point of view; she’s suspicious of lefleur and angsts a lot about how she has no time to train and she needs to get out of corona yada yada. her plan is literally to just walk until she finds someone to hire her on as a guard which. lol. this kid.

i feel like this is the strongest passage in the whole book: 

She said there couldn’t be any secrets between Eugene and her. But why—especially when it meant sacrificing my future and everything I held dear? I’d read about romantic love in poems, and it seemed to me like a spell. Sounded great for the lovebirds, but what about the other people.

Did I just not matter in the face of this love, even though I had been the one to risk everything to show Rapunzel the world? Was I just supposed to fall on my sword because Eugene was uncomfortable that he didn’t have every last piece of information about Rapunzel?

she has a brief argument with owl, who is a pretty obvious stand-in for her own doubts / feeling that she truly belongs in corona and doesn’t actually want to leave. but she has no choice! but it’s stormy, so she can’t leave! oh no!

(i think if tts really strongly felt she had no choice but to free corona, a measly thunderstorm would not be enough to stop her.)

#lost lagoon reread #cassunzel

[thebluelemontree]

I know GRRM has previously stated that ADwD!Tyrion is at his lowest point, but I find it very hard to see how he will ever redeem himself given what he has done and what he has participated in. Do you believe readers gloss over the tragedies he faces i.e. slavery, the Tysha revelation, and do you see path for redemption?

I think with the fandom in general there does seem to be a proportional relationship to the amount of careful consideration people give their problematic favs versus how little they give to a character that is decidedly not their fav. Full disclosure: Tyrion is not one of my favs. There are moments I don’t like him and I don’t personally connect with him. He’s deliberately written to be someone most readers will wrestle with. Out of all the POVs, he’s probably the most psychologically complex and fraught with a minefield of trauma-induced hot buttons. As we know, profound trauma and horrific family dynamics rarely produce saintly victims who suffer beautifully, quietly, and always behave magnanimously. I am by no means an expert on Tyrion; however, I do know he definitely started out as a good person. Early AGOT Tyrion is a pretty decent fellow who validated Jon’s feelings of anger and resentment and designed a saddle to accommodate Bran’s disability for no other reason than he just empathized with them both. Even later on, he does stand up for Sansa against Joffrey’s cruelty, even though their marriage was a miserable farce and act of war against her family. Sansa seems to bear no personal ill-will toward him despite it. I think we should leave room for the possibility the impression he made with small kindnesses in the beginning could come back around to foster peace and mutual forgiveness between the Starks and Lannisters toward the end. 

But before that he was a sweet, loving kid until he was brutally disabused of the notion that anyone could possibly love him. I can’t imagine anything worse than your own father violently raping by proxy two innocent kids for the crime of his son being happy and believing for one single second that he was loved for himself. He’s experienced a lifetime of continuous physical, sexual, mental, and verbal abuse on top of ableist bigotry and repeated scapegoating that nearly cost him his life more than once. For all his dark gray, unlikable moments, it’s actually kind of a miracle that Tyrion still retains what goodness he does have when he could have been totally fucked up beyond repair, without any pity or compassion left in him, and hating all of humanity with every fiber of his being.   

GRRM does a good job of delivering blow after intensifying blow leading up to the moment he snaps and murders Tywin and Shae.There’s the overwhelming stress of the trial for the regicide he was framed for, one where his guilt and conviction is a foregone conclusion. The public humiliation and betrayal of Shae’s false testimony where his sexuality is served up for mockery. The people of KL are literally bloodthirsty and cheering for his death. There’s the momentary hope and crushing defeat of Oberyn Martell championing him in the trial by combat. Then finally Jaime drops the Tysha bomb. I mean, wow... it’s a lot. It’s totally understandable why he goes to the Hand’s tower to confront his father instead of escaping immediately. Personally, I don’t think he has to be sorry about killing Tywin at all. That pile of excrement had it coming and deserved a painful, ignoble death on the shitter at minimum. Shae is the only one there that has enough mitigating factors to say she definitely didn’t deserve to be strangled to death, though I get how it happened in the heat of the moment under intense mental duress. I think he needs to atone for that one, and I say that as someone who thinks Shae is a callous, conniving, greedy, low-level bloodsucker without any redeeming qualities. Yet, killing either of them, especially Tywin, didn’t bring Tyrion any peace or satisfaction whatsoever. Kinslaying is still up there with the most cursed of transgressions. It’s major part of his spiral into the tormented abyss we see in ADWD.  

It’s been a long time since I read ADWD as it’s not my favorite part of the series, so my memory of all the details is not the best. And like I said, I am not an expert on Tyrion. The general impression I get is that Tyrion thinks that he thinks he hates humanity and he’s finally become the monster everyone believed him to be. So he rages against practically everything and everyone. He certainly harbors a hatred for the people of KL and the sister sitting on the throne. There is a high probability he acts upon those feelings and helps usher in a catastrophic tragedy out of vengeance. Just as an example, he is aware of the wildfire cache sitting under KL and that knowledge can be used in a really bad way. Might be that crossing a point of no return, which may feel glorious in the moment, is ironically the thing that causes him to recoil in horror and regret after the dust settles. Consider Tyrion’s dream about the duality of himself: 

That night Tyrion Lannister dreamed of a battle that turned the hills of Westeros as red as blood. He was in the midst of it, dealing death with an axe as big as he was, fighting side by side with Barristan the Bold and Bittersteel as dragons wheeled across the sky above them. In the dream he had two heads, both noseless. His father led the enemy, so he slew him once again. Then he killed his brother, Jaime, hacking at his face until it was a red ruin, laughing every time he struck a blow. Only when the fight was finished did he realize that his second head was weeping.

If the two heads are both noseless, then they are both present day Tyrion. There are two sides of him right now that are equally capable of reveling in bloody vengeance and weeping for someone he still loves even though they wounded him deeply. 

Then what? Well, the thing about hitting your lowest point is that you can either dwell there until you fatally self-destruct or you can find your way back up. Granted, ADWD Tyrion is in a dark place, but there’s still space to get even darker for at least a little while in TWOW. It is possible Tyrion spends the rest of his life atoning for his worst actions during this period, using his intellectual gifts (even the parts that are Tywin writ small) to serve the needs of the people he has harmed. And it does make good story sense for someone who grew to hate humanity for very understandable reasons still found it in himself to care about it enough to save it. Even sacrifice himself for it if necessary since there’s a strong possibility he is a dragon rider. Since all signs seem to point to him ultimately playing a heroic role against the Others, we can rule out the idea that he just says good riddance to bad rubbish and laughs while the world ends. That has to mean something, right? 

There is always a path for redemption for anyone who sees the wrong of what they’ve done, has heartfelt remorse, and commits themselves to meaningful and lasting change. It’s not really about forgiveness at all, although that sometimes happens alongside redemption and it’s certainly easier for people to forgive once they see change. Redemption is work the character must do themselves for the right reasons. It’s not a status granted to them by other people. In fact, it’s probably more sincere when someone decides to do right anyway even if no one ever thinks better of them. If Tyrion (or any other character) is unforgivable to you, then the best worst thing that could happen is that they have to live a long life and spend all of it repaying their karmic debt. Even if he’s not my fav or your fav, a lot of people out there still do relate to him and the things he’s been through. A lot of people are not okay and not good victims from the trauma they’ve suffered. Fiction with redemption that is possible for anyone gives people hope that they could be better too, and there’s no other instance in the books that makes me think GRRM is cynical about redemption. The only way redemption isn’t happening for Tyrion is if he choses not pursue it. 

#Anonymous #valyrianscrolls #tyrion lannister #asoiaf meta #redemption in asoiaf #not my area of expertise but I'm trying my best here #my meta