#erin case

[queerly-autistic]

You really can't engage meaningfully with Ed's story in S2 without firmly centring his mental illness and suicidality, because that's inherently what the story is: it's the story of a man having a severe mental breakdown and going to increasingly erratic extremes in order to achieve his end goal, which is to not be alive anymore...and then it's the story of his recovery from that.

And so much of my frustration with the way I see this being talked about (or, in many cases, not being talked about) reflects my more general frustration with how we talk about mental illness and neurodivergence, so buckle in because this got long (also I am going to be discussing suicide here, as well as very brief mentions of psychosis and ocd, so please take care). There's this trend when we talk about mental health: we go 'oh mental illness isn't an excuse' or 'mental illness doesn't make you do bad things' or variations thereof. These are, in my opinion, some of the worst things to ever happen to the discourse around mental illness. It's reductive. Absolutely mental illness can lead you to do things that you would not have otherwise done, even things that you would be absolutely appalled by, if you were mentally well. What do you think mental illness is if it's not something that impacts your brain and how your brain functions? If your mental illness doesn't directly lead to problematic behaviour, then that's fantastic, but that experience is not universal. It's not an 'excuse' - it's an explanation for certain behaviours that's vitally important to acknowledge and understand in order to try and mitigate harm.

There's also this thing that happens with discourse around mental illness where we assume that what you do in the grips of mental illness is reflective of something that's innate inside you. You were violent whilst in the middle of psychosis? Oh, it's because you're an innately abusive person and this just reveals who you really are. You have Tourette's and one of your tics is a racial slur? Oh, it's because you're an innately racist person and this just reveals who you really are. Your OCD is rooted in a fear that you're going to murder your family? Oh, it's because you inherently do want to murder your family and this just reveals who you really are. It's bullshit. What you do in your mentally ill state is not some deep philosophical reflection of your true character, and the idea that it is is something that causes really deep, dangerous harm to mentally ill and neurodivergent people.

So, now that that's over with, back to Ed.

Ed was behaving in ways that were acknowledged in canon as being extremely out of character whilst in the midst of a severe breakdown. Fang himself said that he'd 'never' seen Ed behave this way; even Izzy, who actively pushed for Ed to embody the extremes of his Blackbeard persona, ended up concerned because it became so extreme and out of character that it was impossible not to be concerned by it. The crew who mutinied on Izzy within a day didn't mutiny on him for months, not until their lives literally depended on it, because it's heavily insinuated that they were hoping he would get better. Because this wasn't the Ed that they knew (the Ed that we came to know in S1 - an inherently soft man who is caught in a culture of violence and is tired of it).

The show wasn't subtle about this. It didn't bury the lead. As well as the constant reminders that he was acting out of character in increasingly alarming ways, this was very clearly depicted as a breakdown, an almost total collapse of Ed's mental health. We saw Ed detached and numb and completely dissociated from the world around him. We saw him in private moments of despair, breaking down. We saw him behaving erratically in the grips of mania. We saw him display absolutely textbook warning signs of someone whose made the decision to die by suicide. We saw him smile and say 'finally' at the moment when he knew he was going to die.

The show basically painted a giant neon sign over his head flashing 'THIS MAN IS EXTREMELY UNWELL' in bright lights, and if you miss that, then it's because you're deliberately avoiding looking properly.

(And, important to note, that most of the people that I've watched the show with outside of fandom discourse absolutely took away from these episodes what the show was intending - they saw how unwell Ed was, they were devastated for him, and they desperately wanted him to get better.)

When Ed steered the ship into the storm, and threatened to put a cannonball through the mast, his clear goal was to create a situation where the crew had no choice but to kill him. I've seen people describe this scene as Ed 'trying to hurt the crew', and I think that's very much a misrepresentation of what the show was depicting. It was very blatantly a suicide attempt. He wanted to die, and he didn't care what he had to do in order for him to achieve that goal. That doesn't make it good behaviour, and it doesn't mean people didn't get hurt, but it does make it a very different situation than if causing harm had been his main intent.

There is a fundamental difference between 'he is doing this because he explicitly wants to cause harm to the people around him' and 'he's doing this because he's suicidal and beyond the point of being able to rationally consider who might be getting hurt in the process of ensuring that he ends up dead'. One of those is a bad person who enjoys causing pain - and the other is a deeply unwell person who can be supported and helped to recover and be better (and should be, for the good of themselves and the people around them).

And on that note, the failure to engage with this as a mental health story is also, I think, why I've seen some people get so upset about the show not doing Ed's redemption arc 'right' - because this isn't a redemption arc, and it's not trying to be. One day I'll do a separate post about how much I love that the show explicitly rejected a carceral approach, opting to essentially put him through community rehabilitation rather than punishing him, and even mocking punitive prescriptive measures (that rubbish youtuber apology speech was supposed to be rubbish and unhelpful), but that's one for another day.

The fact is that the show is telling a story about mental illness, and that inherently means that Ed's arc is a recovery arc, not a redemption arc. And if you're expecting a redemption arc, then you've fundamentally misunderstood the story that they're telling (and the revolutionary kindness at the heart of the show).

I have a lot of feelings about this because I genuinely believe that it was one of the best depictions of mental illness and suicidality that I've ever seen. Within the confines of it being a half hour, eight episode comedy show, they told a story about mental illness that was surprisingly realistic (with the obvious fantastical over the top elements of it being a pirate show - and piracy is explicitly depicted as a culture where violence is heavily normalised), and that didn't shy away from the messier, darker, more complex elements of mental illness (particularly of being suicidal).

And then, most importantly, after all that, the show took me gently by the hand said 'you are not defined by what you do in your lowest moment - you can make amends, you can recover, you are still loved, and you are worth saving'.

#cw suicide #cw suicidal ideation #cw mental illness #cw ocd #cw psychosis #i'm tagging all the things just in case someone has them muted for their own wellbeing #ofmd #our flag means death #edward teach #ofmd meta #mental illness #neurodivergence #erin rants

[lagomorphpaw]

are they with you? or are they giving you commands?

vaguely had some sunbeam and nightheart designs in mind when designing her. obviously subject to change once we get an actual description of what she looks like lol. but here she is without all the effects! went anime hair to the max and tried to make her eyes look like eclipses.

#please erin hunter let me rest. please. i'm so tired #warrior cats #moonpaw #changing skies #scopophobia #scopophobia tw #eyestrain #bright colors #? not totally sure but just wanted to tag in case !!! #does she sound a bit like a reskinned shadowsight right now? yeah absolutely. but she's a GIRL and that's awesome. #the erins literally bursting blood vessels rn trying not to give moonpaw a misunderstood sadboy boyfriend #changing skies spoilers #wc

[yuridovewing]

oh yall weren't joking frostpaw actually might have gotten spayed

#asc spoilers #actually. since this is smokys owner i actually dont know if this really is the case #first of all bc toms would get this treatment too so its weird smoky wouldnt note that (could change in the actual book) #and also this is the same twoleg that took floss's kits when they were like a day old and keeps letting their male cat have kittens #so if anything i think the twoleg is anti neutering. but ofc the doctor couldve just made the decision on their own #my other doubt is that they havent had a medic kits plotline in a bit and the erins will keel over if they cant have nextgen kids over ther

[spookberry]

Lowkey HATE that lil "grAy is American, grEy is English" thing, cuz i grew up with knowledge of only the E spelling despite being american. And it was only via Graystripe the warrior cat (who lives in england and was written by british people) that i found out some people spelt it with an A like ???

#theoretically the graystripe thing could be a localization but the internet says thats not the case #genuinely as a kid just thought the erins were dumb or something i was like 'why do they keep misspelling the word grey?'

[violetshine-appreciation]

wc fans: we want more morally gray female characters

morally gray female wc character: *says/does things that are fucked up/morally gray*

wc fans: This Character Is So Abusive. How Dare The Erins Try To Make Us Sympathize With This Character. She Has No Redeeming Qualities Whatsoever And I'm Sick Of Seeing People Defend Her. I Hate Warrior Cats

#mod meows #do i dare tag this as #bluestar #frecklewish #needletail #<- just the ones ive seen get this treatment the most lol #look im in no way trying to defend erin hunter or anything #but i feel like so many ppl will just take the worst faith interpretation of characters actions #and assume that it equates to the authors actual morals #and blame any moral complexity that a character may have on 'bad writing' #and again. not saying the erins ARENT bad writers with a history of botching their own characterizations. bc they are #but i feel like some ppl just like to assume that thats the case w EVERY character #anyway. rant over. i love when women do fucked up things

[just-antithings]

very funny to see both of these in the pinned post of someone who proudly declares themselves an anti

#unless it’s meant sarcastically in which case it’s spot on #but i doubt it #mod erin #just anti things #image

[random-fandom-whump]

The Boys S02E06 (✚)

#the boys #theboysedit #hughie campbell #jack quaid #billy butcher #starlight #worry #karl urban #erin moriarty #i'm fine #the boys 2x06 #ep: the bloody doors off #impaled #blood #gore tw #just in case #collapse #carried #supported #another set where I wish gifs had sound #bleeding out

[thehauntedair]

Starless Sea Book Mentions:

The Catcher in the Rye- J.D Salinger

The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon

The Little Stranger- Sarah Waters

The Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis

Harry Potter - J.K Rowling

The Long Goodbye, Playback, The Big Sleep- Raymond Chandler

Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle

This Side of Paradise - F. Scott Fitzgerald

Les Indes Noises- Jules Verne

The Age of Fable, Beauties of Mythology- Thomas Bullfinch

The Princess Bride- William Goldman

Where the Wild Things Are- Maurice Sendak

Hamlet- William Shakespeare

The Kick-Ass Writer- Chuck Wendig

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norell -Susanna Clarke

The Secret History- Donna Tartt

The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde

#the starless sea #erin morganstern #in case you were wondering what books were mentioned in the book about books #if you know one I'm missing let me know!

[thschei]

I open tweetdeck and this is the first thing I see god bless

#erin talks #photo #just in case: this is not real . I'd like to believe it's true tho

[cliveguy]

censored tweets because it's too horrible for me to casually put here but it's so infuriating how people on twitter who build their entire brand on usamerican trans issues literally have 0 empathy for trans people in other countries. these two accounts have hundreds of thousands of followers and erin reed is major source on trans news in the us. so disrespectful and flippant to be using this case (and this thread. which contains graphic details of the murder of a trans teenager. the censored tweet contained slurs.) to make a stupid point about how you think another country's legal system is stupid and wrong because it's different to yours.

#erin reed has been very uscentric before so if this was anything other than this particular case itd just be an eyeroll moment #but seriously? you read the contents of that thread and still have it in you to complain about having to think before you tweet for #5 minutes? #makes me genuinely so mad. #'we had a revolution over this' literally shut UPPP stop doing stupid quips under a tweet about something this serious #not to mention erin reed should absolutely know better than to have originally quoted with her opinion because the original thread #(by a uk trans journalist) #said SO many times that doing that could potentially disrupt the case. #like i try not to get mad online. but come on. come the fuck onnnn. #transphobia / #brianna ghey #tagging because reading about the case made me feel so sick earlier ill understand if people have filtered her name

[pikablob]

Trick or Treat! :D

"So, w-what do you think...?"

"I think it looks really good," Camila noted earnestly. She didn't miss the slight quaver in the star-child's voice, looking up at her with big, arcane-red eyes, but she chose not to press that. Her newest adopted child, of several, was still getting used to family and everything else, and she knew how much they needed approval sometimes.

When the Collector didn't say anything else, one hand playing loosely in their suddenly-long hair, she went on softly. "I mean it, mijo. I think growing it out suits you."

"Well, I didn't really grow it," they replied, shifting over to sit slightly closer to her side; their smile grew. "I still don't really know how to make this form grow. But I can change stuff like this!" They ran their hand through the soft white curls, sending flecks of starlight sparkling out onto the sofa.

Camila chuckled warmly; seeing them like this, the way her kids did, the way Eda did, the way Belos or the Titans had never been able to; as just the little kid they were, made a familiar warmth settle in her chest. "So, what made you decide to change it?"

"It's kinda Luz's fault actually," the Collector admitted softly, head tilting over. "She let me read some of her witch books, cause I wanted to know what her and Amity were so obsessed with." They shifted a little, legs kicking restlessly. "And they're actually really good! I can see why Luz wanted to be like Azura, cause she's so cool, and pretty, and she cares about everyone and I..."

They paused for a second, breathing in sharply, before their voice turned down to a quiet whisper, as if what they were saying was the most important secret in their entire mortal life. "I started wishing that I was like her, too."

That gave Camila pause. She knew it was probably too early to call, to little to go on, but instincts born in the books she'd read when Luz had come out to her, instincts she'd already been right on once with her oldest child, were suddenly very awake. Still, she quietly held herself back; whoever the Collector, with their own astral ideas of self and gender, really was was up to them. All she had to do was support her child.

But the star-child wasn't done. "And then that made me think some other stuff, about what parts of Azura I really want to be like, and what I could be that I get to choose and I... I...

"I think I'm maybe like Erin? Kinda?"

Ah. Ahhh. There it was.

"Oh," Camila breathed, "well, maybe you are." She took a moment, choosing her next words carefully and watching for the Collector's reaction "Wanting to have long hair and look pretty doesn't have to mean anything, and sometimes it doesn't. But for some people, like Erin, it means a lot. Whichever way you are, it's okay."

"But I don't know which way I am," the star-child replied quickly, voice suddenly shaking. "I think... I think I like the idea of being a girl, at least sometimes, but everything I know about it comes from a couple of books! It's... Erin took ages to realise, right, but once she did, it was always kinda there? But I've been around for ages and I've never even thought about it until now."

"Well..." Camila trailed off softly, keeping her voice level as she reached for the right thing to say. "Erin grew up in a really harmful environment. The man she thought was her uncle would never have let her transition; he didn't even let her know people like her existed." She had to take another breath to steady herself, old memories of what she'd merely heard of Belos making her heart ache. "So she grew up thinking everything about her identity had to be what Belos said it was, and all the discomfort she felt with being called a boy, or using the name we don't say anymore, was just normal. That's why it took her a long time.

"For some people, it's like that. They're in a bad situation, one way or another, and they just don't have a chance to realise or be themself. But not everyone has those uncomfortable feelings; sometimes you're fine, but you'd just feel happier using different words, and if nobody ever uses those words for you, you might never realise."

"Huh," the Collector added after a moment of silence, shaking their... or her? maybe? head softly to one side. "And I guess I never really had anyone to even ask about it until Luz and King and you and Eda and... and everyone." The kid sniffled just a little, and in response Camila reached out, putting one arm around small, shaking shoulders.

"Mhmm," the woman murmured sympathetically, giving her youngest child a gentle squeeze. "There's nothing wrong with only finding yourself now, mija, or with it being sudden." The Collector tensed up at that, but in her eyes, there were only stars, that little word sinking in deep. "It's different for everyone, and that's okay. Trying to make everyone the same only hurts them."

"Yeah," the kid breathed, her own voice still shaky. For a moment she just sat there, letting it sink in, new and uncertain ground underfoot. But then she seemed to find herself, and all-at-once she launched herself at Camila's side, stardust trailing, arms wrapping tightly around the woman's warm sweater.

"Thanks, mom."

"It's alright, mjia, it's alright."

#ask pika #friends #my little sister #<3 #the owl house #toh #the collector #camila noceda #adoption #transfem #in case it's not clear erin is transfem hunter #trans collector

[blimbo-buddy]

May just be me but it feels really weird having ThistleClaw's two biggest victims (TigerStar and SpottedLeaf) die forever with no chance of coming back, meanwhile ThistleClaw's ghost is still very alive in the Dark Forest

#blimbo rambles #implied abuse #just in case #I know this isn't anything that the erins were trying to go for in particular and that they didn't do this on purpose #but that still doesn't exempt it from criticism of it feeling wrong

[taylorshope]

So Kate and Erin tried to give Charlie that anxiety book with poor results. But Kate did give it to Jamie and she enjoyed it.

I just wonder- did Mark read it? Do they just pass it around? I need to know more about the thrilling saga of Breaking Down Walls: Navigating the Maze of Anxiety

#idk why it's so funny to me #supermassive games #the dark pictures anthology #the devil in me #kate wilder #erin keenan #charlie lonnit #jamie tiergan #mark nestor #the devil in me spoilers #just in case

[yuridovewing]

if i may be a little mean… i think the reason spottedleaf’s feelings come across as a “retcon” is because the erins didn’t care enough about her on her own to outright have her say “yes i love fireheart back”

#totally get people wanting to make her better and erase that gross element of her character #but like……. idk dude. you gotta remember that starclan was different and cryptic in tpb #she gives him a life for love. like. i think the erins did intend for her to like him back #its a case where you gotta take the bigger picture into account w female characters having no agency #im not saying this to be like ‘’you cant like her or make her better’’ #but bc im kinda seeing the sentiment that like. youre misogynistic if you dont like her or hate that part of her character? #and like…. look i get it. im the first to say the wc fandom is misogynistic. #but at the same time i think people have the right to be uncomfortable with her character and not get told theyre bad people for it #and ftr i give the exact same treatment to thistleclaw. yes his plotline was a retcon that should be discarded bc its disgusting #but people have to right to completely write him out of aus and not discuss him for their own comfort

[puddin-dear]

Warrior cats comic on long hold, my ipads charging port is fucked n we can’t figure out why. (its now been added to the series of unfortunate events thats been my devices randomly stop working. No it is not my fault. I assume its something to do with this houses shitty charging ports. shrug.)

Anyways yeah, no art for me ):

actually bawling my eyes out rn /hj

Wow this post earned me a badge, sad and happy times

#wc oc #wc art #wc #wc designs #warriorcats #warriors oc #erin hunter warriors #warrior cats #warriors #clan gen #clangen #clan generator #): #technology #(putting this here JUSTT in case someone who actually knows what could be wrong stumbles upon this post)

[that-one-satanic-tree]

Feel like the most under-talked about crazy thing in Warriors is the lineage of Stormfur and Brook’s kits

These cats have blood from every Clan except ShadowClan plus the tribe, and since Graystripe’s other parent is unconfirmed at the moment, they could very well be a ShadowClan cat.

A brief description of their family tree:

Willowpelt, Graystripe’s mother has SkyClan blood. Willowbreeze, Stormfur’s grandma, has WindClan blood. Obviously, there’s Thunder, River, and Tribe in there. (also, a lot of the prefix Willow)

These are possibly the most genetically diverse cats we have.

#wc spoilers #warrior cats spoilers #sorta? just in case #warrior cats #warriors #erin hunter warriors #stormfur #brook where small fish swim #brook wc #lark that sings at dawn #lark wc #pine that clings to rock #pine wc #yes these are the kits’ names i had to look it up