#it's tragic character hour

[autumnillustration]

some studies of Sam West in Howards End (1992) because reasons

#man looks like he's straight out of a Leyendecker drawing #art #illustration #face studies #digital art #drawing #artists on tumblr #howards end #howards end (1992) #leonard bast #it's tragic character hour #what a sweetheart he was

[future-crab]

The thing about TMA is that if I think about Sasha James too much I will cry and if I think about Michael Shelley too much I will cry and if I think about Agnes Montegue too much I will cry and if I think about Jonathan Sims too much I will cry and if I think about Naomi Herne too much I will cry and if I think about Gerry Keay too much I will cry and if I think about Tim Stoker too much I will cry and if I think about Jane Prentiss too much I will cry and if I think about Martin Blackwood too much I will cry and—

#tma is a horror podcast and i absolutely love it on those merits #but i think where it really excels is as a tragedy #SO many characters - major and minor - have these unique and insanely fascinating individual tragic arcs #i could sit and think about any one of them for hours #it’s just such good and sad and interesting writing #it’s what makes me so completely unable to get this podcast out of my head even years after it’s ended #tma #the magnus archives #jonathan sims #sasha james #tim stoker #martin blackwood #naomi herne #jane prentiss #gerard keay #michael shelley #agnes montague

[sctumsempra]

going insane and i need to infodump about severus snape’s patronus being a doe for a second. i personally don’t think it changed, or lily necessarily influenced it- i think it’s always been a doe, casting the charm in dumbledore’s office was meant to show that he and lily were supposed to be viscerally aligned with each other and he knows he fucked it up and that’s why he’s spent almost two decades trying to atone for what he did. on a representative level, the doe symbolizes peace, protection, and innocence, and no three words could possibly represent severus snape more.

all he wants is peace: a peaceful life for himself, a peaceful world, a peaceful school. everything he’s ever done has been to create as much peace as possible. some of it can be considered misguided from a black and white moral standpoint, but it’s what created peace for himself. for example, aligning himself with the purist views of his housemates made him less of a target for bullying- he’s not a pure blood, and they’d know, and having powerful ambitious students on your side instead of alienating yourself from everyone means you have at least a semblance of protection from harm some of the time. he becomes a double agent for dumbledore to help bring about peace from voldemort’s reign. it might not have been peaceful for him per se, but it was still with the intention of peace in some form. he tries to give other people peace- he takes a vow with narcissa to protect her son because she’s crying and scared for him, and it gives her peace. he doesn’t throw draco under the bus to save his skin when voldemort accuses him of being the elder wands owner, giving draco and narcissa peace even if they weren’t aware. it’s either for himself, or for others.

he’s the most protective teacher at the school- would mcgonagall have thrown herself in front of three kids facing a wolfsbane-less werewolf? would flitwick take the burden of an unbreakable vow to protect draco malfoy from voldemort? would any of the DADA teachers have run towards the sound of a screaming woman? he consistently vows to protect everyone and everything he can. and, leading into his innocence, when he realizes he’s only been protecting harry for him to die, it breaks him.

he’s not necessarily innocent in that his hands are clean and he’s never done anything wrong in his life, but he’s innocent in that he’s naive. he trusted voldemort enough to be drawn into the death eaters, he trusted dumbledore enough to be manipulated into his bidding. it feels like he forgets that dumbledore screws him over constantly, dangles things in front of him and takes them away, makes crude assumptions, and has left him to fend for himself essentially their entire relationship. the times that dumbledore abandons him- physically, mentally, metaphorically- he gets very upset. like it’s new information to him that dumbledore treats him like shit. from an abuse perspective, he probably had to spend his childhood mentally erasing what his parents and home were like so he could feel safe and normal, so the constant ebb and flow/back and forth of his and dumbledore’s relationship is familiar to him. when dumbledore draws him back in with whatever method, he’s right back to behaving as dumbledore wants, doing what dumbledore wants, and believing what dumbledore believes. the times that he remembers that dumbledore doesn’t care that he let the guy who’s tried to kill him or assault go, or that dumbledore thinks he wants only lily saved because he desires her romantically or sexually, or that dumbledore has only been using harry and, by extension, him (as he’s been the one protecting harry) to play the long game of destroying voldemort are the times that he’s emotional in the books. he cries, he’s vulnerable, he raises his voice, he begs and he pleads and he defers. he doesn’t do that any other time, other than when he found harry watching his memories. he trusts and he forgives (or he forgets, or he feels safer pretending he doesn’t care what’s been done to him/how he’s been treated.) a doe is perfect for him. reducing it to something like tonk’s patronus being changed as soon as she’s in a relationship with lupin or that it’s only a doe because of lily evans completely erases his entire way of thinking and behaving and being.

also, in a self indulgent addendum, it’s a very feminine animal, and severus is consistently aligned with femininity. hermione calls the half-blood prince’s writing feminine. he wears his mother’s clothes as a child, and lupin encourages neville to dress his boggart as his grandmother. he’s quiet and docile and tries to be non-violent unless he’s pushed to his breaking point, and even then it’s screaming or crying or getting animated. he’s emotional and frequently painted as hysterical. he gets the “woman character treatment”: to the average viewer who doesn’t think about him long enough to understand otherwise, he only desires lily. the consensus is that he chases her, he only thinks about her in the context of attraction. the line about looking at her greedily is constantly understood to be lust, and not a desire for love or a desire for a peaceful relationship for once in his life (and a relationship that only ever seems to be platonic at that). he even backs off and all but disappears from her life when he’s asked to, while james (the one with the stag patronus, the classic triumphant male character) harasses her and pursues her and behaves in a way that makes his son decades later wonder if he forced lily into a relationship. he’s behaviorally aligned with what femininity in the eyes of misogyny is supposed to be. he keeps to himself, he’s quiet, he sacrifices every bit of himself for students and coworkers and superiors and expects nothing in return, he pushes his students to be the best they can. (i’d say nurtures with my whole chest, but as the narrative comes from harry, we can’t really be sure. in my view, his house won the house cup for several years in a row which was only interrupted by dumbledore awarding a fuck ton of points to his gryffindor prize pony, his classes are seen as high performing and advanced by even dolores umbridge of all people, he only tries to punish students albeit a bit violently after several attempts of getting them to understand why what they did was wrong, which seems to be pretty nurturing in comparison to what other teachers allow and do). whether he’s trans, or had been influenced more by eileen, or he was intended to be deeply complex and contradictory and that meant that he had to have these traits, or any other of the multitude of reasons for snape being an inherently feminine character, it’s there. his patronus wouldn’t be a stag, he wouldn’t be anything overbearing and he wouldn’t be anything aggressive. it doesn’t make sense with his soul and his personality and his life. the peaceful protective innocent/naive doe, however, does.

#severus snape #snape #pro snape #patronus #snape meta #severus snape meta #i’m going insane #i wrote this at work. i couldn’t sit with all of this in my head anymore #he’s the character ever #he deserves the coziest quietest little life ever. i hope he gets it in his next one #he’s so tragic and misunderstood and villainized. i might be crying a little #i could literally talk about him and all of this for hours i just figured i should stop where i was #she’s giving novel

[sheryl-lee]

idk if this makes sense. but i kind of love that the last of us makes me cry and viscerally FEEL true emotions on a weekly basis. like i cant remember the last tv show i watched that had me consistently bawling my eyes out and so immersed in a show because of the characters, the story, the incredibly strong writing, etc. and it doesn't feel manipulative. it just feels profound and beautiful and poetic but also tragic and... human.

#it's a whole spectrum of emotion!!! it's beautifully tragically human!!!! is that not what it is to exist!!!! #and it's therapeutic honestly. to spend like an hour in a world that isnt real but that you can relate aspects of your life to. #and you can just connect to these characters and their experiences and release the emotions that have been building up inside. #i'm sure that if you've played the game you feel this all the more strongly #but as someone who hasn't and went into tlou without prior knowledge #i'm just very pleased with it and idk i love watching a show that can elicit such a strong reaction from me #granted i AM what people would call 'sensitive' and 'emotional' or whatever #but even for me i dont think i've felt quite this intensely about a show - especially not right away during a first season #these are just my half baked thoughts and i definitely could say so much more but i'll leave it here for now #sameera.txt #the last of us

[0vergrowngraveyard]

sitting in my little corner of “as much as i love love love prime bros, i also love the idea of nine being a character to fought so hard to get something, anything, and in the end, he got nothing”

i love me a tragic character who fought so hard to get his happy ending but never did because life just wasn’t fair to him

the cards weren’t in his favor and he lost

#graveyardtxt #before marie and brainworms hunt me for sport LISTEN #i need angst as much as i need oxygen #nine being alone in the grim is unfair #but that’s the point #he deserves a happy ending just as the rest of the foxes do #but why doesn’t he get one #why is he the one alone #what did he do wrong that all the other ones did right? #only tails has sonic #but sails and mangey still have families #why didn’t the echidna or bat or rose from his dimension take him in? #why is he the only fox who suffered alone for so long #and is still suffering alone #only this time around he’s also dealing with side effects from using the prism #he fought to get his home. his family. and everyone fought against him #and he was left with nothing but a broken down monument of his darkest hour #why didn’t he get his happy ending when everyone else did? #it’s just not fair #i LOVE tragic characters #anyway if i suddenly go missing please assume either marie or brainworms killed me

[suckdickforcoin]

#qsmp #qsmp fanart #walter bob #qsmp forever #its that time of day where i miss walter bob.. #can i just say i love walter bob #HE IS SO AGGGHH #his backstory is so cool and sad like #he was a father and husband…. HE HAD A NORMAL LIFE BEFORE #its so GRGRGRGRGR #I love him #i could go on about him being a tragic character for hours but tags can only be so long.. #so ill cut it short #side note #this guy NEEDS more fan content #im BEGGING

[starbuck]

we talk a lot about “escaping the narrative,” but keep in mind that the frightening thing about escape is the chance you might end up someplace worse.

#hello. i have been listening to Maize Stalk Drinking Blood for like an hour now #you could ask me about how it’s about ~10 different brbabcs characters - but i wouldn’t tell you because i am Shy ✌🏻 #it Is tho :)) #ANYWAYS #that’s a Ravenous 1999 quote for those who don’t know #but inspired by my currently line of thinking which is that for SOME of the brbabcs characters - there was never any better alternative #not that there wasn’t morally or logically but they quite literally COULDN’T have done anything else than what they did #not because The Narrative Is Controlling Them or whatever - but because they are Fucked In The Head #we might see potential ‘better endings’ for them #but those were completely unattainable bc making any choices other than the terrible ones they made would have killed them anyway #because they couldn’t have stood for it #which is what makes it such an excellent tragedy #also to any moralistic weirdos out there: this isn’t me morally justifying anyone - this is me going :(( #learn the difference and embrace the Tragic Narrative <33

[citrus-cactus]

Watching Awakening Parts 4 & 5 is mostly just me waiting for my favorite failwoman to have a bazooka-assisted meltdown on national TV

#gargoyles #disney's gargoyles #this whole exchange is flippin' incredible #girl you went from 0 to 60 in 0.3 seconds #she was happy for like… what… an hour? before it all started falling apart #for someone who’s been alive for so long you think she’d’ve learned some patience and subtlety #but no all she really knows is how to betray first and not ask questions later #anyway I can't do justice to her and all her character flaws in these tags but she's incredible and tragic and complex and I love her #demona

[profounddefendorcrusade-blog]

I feel bad for Starlo. (pt. 6)

I think the main thing we were supposed to see as Star's character flaw wasn't that he was acting proud/arrogant/reckless/badass (I mentioned that it's fine for him to act that way because he deserved it after everything good he did and obviously I still mean it 110%), but how that proud, charming guy was never the real him. He literally lost himself trying to feel worthy and please everyone in town. For years he's been acting the role (for a noble cause) but the price was him losing touch with the nerd he is.

Yet STILL, if only everyone had been a bit more gentle with him, I bet he'd have toned it down during the WE section, and even before that. But they all decided to let him know the truth at the worst possible time, right when he was supposed to make Clover his deputy. Right after they attacked the kid because they were jealous. It was supposed to be the PEAK of Starlo's day and they randomly threw the "we never liked any of this" bomb at him instead of trying to talk it out BEFORE things escalated. I'd be pissed too.

Oh yeah...

... his brother doesn't take him seriously apparently and doesn't realize that staying positive and strong 24/7 is tougher than it looks, especially with Starlo's insecurities (and yeah being a farmer is hard work, but so is being in Star's position; on the contrary, it's even TOUGHER) ...

Orion should try being an entertainer for a day and see what it's like, let alone doing it for years

...Solomon says how Star thought him and Crestina didn't support his life choices...

... and how he rarely talks to his family...

...and it suddenly came to me: in all these years, they didn't ever bother telling him that they did support him? They didn't bother trying to reach out to him more? Understand his passion (Ceroba doesn't get it either; once again, I don't blame Starlo for caring about Clover so much, that kid understood)? Have an honest talk?

No wonder Star stopped interacting with them for the most part. Maybe him feeling worthless came from his family? Who knows (or he was bullied as a kid for being a nerd). In any case, he clearly had to deal with these feelings by himself.

This man's been through some stuff.

P.S. I know he has flaws like everyone, but you've gotta ask yourself the important question: WHY? where did all this come from? But clearly nobody in his life ever asked themselves this. So it all kept building up till he almost killed his deputy for... status. He was SO desperate to feel valued and get his friends back (who made him feel less alone.. but ultimately just left when he needed someone the most, at least ONE person) that he was ready to go all the way to achieve what he'd been lacking his entire life: *feeling like he MATTERED.*

I wonder If he'll ever go 100% back to being his true self. Slim chances :'( this is him now. Half farmer half sheriff

#undertale yellow #uty #starlo uty #uty starlo #why is this character so tragic #without being tragic #i mean the “Ceroba” type of tragic #I'm no psychologist but I sure know feelings like this stem from childhood/adolescence #I'm talking bout the fact starlo literally decided that his life purpose would be pretending to be a sheriff. I repeat. PRETENDING #aka someone important #bc he never felt important #he tried lying to everybody and especially himself #that he was 'great' and 'cool' #bc nobody ever made him feel that way #plus ceroba ditched him for someone more 'serious' she had just met #I have to write about the sentence above soon #like I'm not saying Solomon & crestina are terrible people #But parents..? #Wellll... #I kinda sometimes imagine Star being made fun of by his peers and so he'd always retreat to his room and cry alone #That is #Until he found those western cassettes (I imagine it happened when he was a teen) #So instead of crying #He'd just distract himself for hours and hours #And pretend he was someone with more value who everyone respected #That's how the persona came to be #And so he began to lose touch with his real self more and more #As well as his feelings and problems #Until he just snapped #I can't anymore

[calcat89]

I’ll never forget the joy I felt when I discovered dimension 20 and naddpod and realized I didn’t have to watch critical role anymore 😭😭😭

#I was like oh my god ttrpg but it’s…actually funny and good? #there’s no boring guy giving a boring monologue about his characters tragic backstory for half of a four hour episode???? #sign me up!!!!!! #d20 #naddpod #dimension 20

[rabbit-exe]

rewatched exu calamity and brennan really rocked up to the critical role studio and said "I'm gonna hurt that paladin So Bad"

#the fuckin!! the hour-long second! in which brennan literally says to luis 'you get a front-row seat to watch what happens to them' #fuckin!! frozen in time!! watching his friends get Tree Exploded! GAH... #'zerxus you watch as patia's head twists past the point that she can remain alive' COOL GREAT THANKS BRENNAN #exu calamity #god I love all four episodes of that tragedy so much. perfect #brennan heard that zerxus is grieving his dead husband and estranged from his son and looked at luis like a lion looks at an injured gazell #Emotional Wound Time #all of these characters are so fucking tragic I love them #the way brennan plays evandrin too... AUGH #I'm chewing the legs off the goddamn furniture over here #hare.txt

[brucewaynehater101]

I get asked, "What do you do with your life?" and have no clue how to respond. I tell people all I'm doing is working cause "post fanfics, have a batfam blog, and stream on Twitch" is not a conversation I want to try to explain to others.

#“oh? you're into dc characters? so you like batman?” #“you read about the same character multiple times?” #“so people just... watch you play games? for fun?” #why the fuck would i go out to a bar or something when i can watch my favorite characters defeat villains over and over again? #who needs clubs when i have angst? #im sure they dont want to hear about how there's more than one robin and it's all so tragic and that's why i love it #why start talking about the batfam when they'll end up in an hour long rant we both know they don't care about #they be out there getting married and having kids and stuff but I'm good with trying to force my brain to write fanfics

[dont-let-me-eat-pears]

to whoever had the brilliant idea to open 4x03 with festivity, humor, and light, cheerful music after 4x02 ended heartbreakingly with lancelot's death—

hey. i wanna talk.

#bbc merlin #merlin #lancelot #the darkest hour #the wicked day #4x02 #4x03 #merlin rewatch #text: merlin #my text #after putting my rewatch on pause for like 2 weeks i've decided to try skipping the second half of 4x02 for now #but the beginning of 4x03 made me feel /sick/ #i know the show always does this kind of upsetting crap and we're just meant to assume there's a time jump after an episode with #a tragic character death #but it's still beyond upsetting #i want to see lancelot MOURNED not forgotten by the next episode #another example of this show being bipolar

[headroom-moods]

When you realize it, Tim was never the other woman— it always has been Lucy.

#even after a 3 decade situationship Hawk had always gravitated to Tim because he literally could not survive without him (fire island arc) #while he only came back to Lucy for necessity #imagine though. #your own fkcin wife is the other woman #goddamn- sorry ya’ll I’m a Lucy apologist all throughout my girl deserved her own RIGHTS #she done got sht on for the entirety of the show lmfaooooo #i could literally ramble on about this topic for days on end #i will genuinely fist fight anyone who thinks Lucy is the villain of the story. #and to think that she might have never even had reassurance that Hawk ever loved her in the first place- #I’m sick. #she’s actually stronger than god for going through all she did. #and as much as I love Tim and think he absolutely didnt deserve any of it either #Lucy is actually such a tragic character she’s absolutely perfect for a character study #anyways #brain rot hours methinks #fellow travelers #fellow travelers brainrot #I’m so eepy y’all sorry for this-

[mwagneto]

any time i remember time lord victorious arc i start shaking like a sick fucking dog

#having an extraordinarily hard time watching waters of mars rn literally episode of all fucking time #they dont make them like this anyMOOOOOOOOOORE OHHMY GODDDD #icould talk abt it for hours istg it's so. grips you shakes you shakes you shakes you shakes you sh #the WAYYDYDYDHDHDJDJDJDUJDJDHDJDUDJD THHHEEEE THE THE THE . HTHHEHEH #the way u can see glimpses of what's to come in all 4 seasons but especially in voyage of the #damned and then s4 onwards but u dont realise JUST how much he went insane until now #like there's echoes of this in votd but you might not even pick up on it if you dont Know #n here he's just fully gone it's sooo. IT'S SOOOOOOOOOOO. CHARACTER OF ALL TIME #man so profoundly tragic his entire story is abt speedrunning losing everything and #going insane and dying. and yet he still spends like 20 entire minutes crying and begging not to die. okay #i cant rank drs they're my best friends so idk who my fave dr is but 10's is easily my favourite story it's so. it's SOOO. #anyway sorry. stops shaking you and pats your arms down awkwardly. carry on #doctor who #dw lb #10th doctor #the waters of mars #time lord victorious #i was today years old when i learned there's apparently a whole audio series about it that #came out in the past few years. well i aint listenin to that. everything i need is on my screen already #also. the way most ppl havent even seen these specials coz they're impossible to find online.. #even tho waters of mars is like. not just extremely important but also yknow. extremely good

[swashbucklery]

I know I am never going to be a Star Wars Fandom Person and that I am not reacting to Ahsoka the way the rest of the internet is reacting because that was, without a doubt, the funniest dumbest gay thing I've ever seen??? HER STORMTROOPER FRIENDS LEFT

AND SHE STARTED CRYING

AND THEN RAN AWAY ON A WOLF (yes it's a howler i know it's a howler shh) TO BE SAD IN THE MOORS ALONE FOREVER(????)

NO ONE GIVE HER A HUG THIS IS FUCKING INCREDIBLE, I need to see her carve BAYLAN SUX into the side of a spaceship with her lightsaber. I need to see her dramatically tearing up as she learns that Evil Doesn't Pay I want her to listen to Space Evanescence alone in her room in the dark I need her to go to the Space Hot Topic and spend too much money on nail polish that DEFINITELY DOESN'T MAKE HER THINK OF SABINE this is critical to my enjoyment of Star Wars.

#do i also need the finale to be like #40 minutes of plot resolution or whatever #40 minutes of mean gay sex #yes of course i do #will i get any of this #no she's a woman in star wars i assume she'll die tragically on the moors or be adopted by witches to Come Back Wrong #in the obscure corner of an extended universe property #that i will never hear about #because the star wars extended universe(s) is a nested puzzle box of self-contradictory canon #and i have things to do #also i don't care about comic man you cannot make me care about comic man #i don't care if he rides the force like the goddamn silver surfer #if i have to go back and watch 40 hours of extended universe cgi cartoons #in my precious spare time #to be able to give a shit about this character #you have not told a story good #sorry not sorry #but i'm glad all the people who liked rebels are having a nice time #ahsoka series #ahoska spoilers #go see a star war