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andreal831 · 9 days

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Questions to think about: I know we don't have a direct timeline, but it's food for thought that 6 siphoners were born into the same coven in the same century (1800s) and probably within years of each other.

And that they were abused and abandoned once discovered before being kicked out - yet the Parkers kept Kai when it would have been much easier to do the same.

Something was going on to produce that many siphoners in one century yet Kai was the only modern one discovered and handled differently. I talked with other bloggers and believe that the Gemini Coven was so big that it might've spread out across the country and it was over the years that their numbers got smaller and chose to stick in one place (Oregon). As for why there were so many Siphoners to form the Heretics? Another theory was talked about combining the idea of a supernatural power vacuum and why the coven's lifespan was tied to the leader - as that's an incredibly risky choice to make.

By this logic - the Gemini's learned that kicking siphoners out was a bad idea with the risk of vampirism but accepting them was still a big no-no.

Hi! Sorry it took me so long to answer this. I haven't rewatched TVD in a while so I had to look up the timeline myself.

To me, the siphoners represented mentally ill or disabled individuals and how they were treated by society and even their families. They were born a certain way and cast aside because of it. This would also track with how they were abandoned in the 1800s but it was less acceptable for the Parkers to do so with Kai. Kai was born at a time where it wasn't acceptable to abandon a child but at the same time it was not socially acceptable to be a siphoner. So he was kept but still excluded.

I also think this goes into the fact that there were probably a lot more siphoners than even the Gemini Coven realized. People used to do all sorts of things with children who were born "different." I could even see them attempting to bind their children's powers or even kill the children in order to hide the fact that their child was a siphoner.

I've said it in the past that I think it was very strange that the first ever heretics were all from the same time period and it was 800 years after vampires were created. Practically, there would have been another siphoner who was turned in 800 years. But that could go to my previous point, that it was common practice to kill the children when they started to exhibit signs they were a siphoner.

But I love the idea that there was some supernatural disaster happening at that time and "nature" produced so many siphoners to combat this. I wish they would have gone more into a storyline for them. Or even, like you pointed out, why would the Gemini Coven design themselves the way they were. It was super problematic and likely would have taken some incredible evil they were facing to make them make that choice.

The Gemini Coven was such a mess and I really need more of their backstory to understand why they were so messed up.

Thanks for the ask! I need to spend more time thinking about TVD. I tend to just stay in TO.

#kai parker #malachai parker #tvdu #the originals #the vampire diaries #tvd #the mikaelsons #hayley marshall #fandom answers #tvd anon ask #tvd ask #fandom asks #anon ask #anonymous #tvdu metas #metas

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veladoe · 2 years

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What got you into Bonkai? In a time where the show is cancelled and the fandoms aren’t as active as they used to be. And due to a lot of anti-campaigning from the cast, crew, and other shippers Bonkai has sort of become this “oh my god people who ship that are gross” thing. It’s really cool to see that there are still new fans of the ship 7 years later despite all that. Was it fanfics? Was it the actual scenes on the show? Was it a meta?

Haha🤔 that’s such a good question, what got me into bonkai was a bit of everything. The scenes, the fanfics (yellow Ledbetter was truly the first fic that got me drawing again) and meta were just so interesting and exceeded my expectations. I also like that there’s so much exploration and untapped potential that can happen with these two-specifically in understanding the witch world more-which I felt we never really got from the show. So that angle absolutely fascinated me because you can get two very different perspectives on power and magic or familial dynamics from these two characters:) not to mention from a creative stand point, I don’t have to rework kai Parker entirely narratively (he has the least appearances on the show I think) since there’s a lot that was vaguely explained or explored-you could say the same for bonnie as well after her erasure from the show.

So I just like that I can do a lot with them narratively since there’s a lot of room I can work with. But what got me interested as a fan was that no matter how much the writers or director tried to make bonnie undesirable or erased entirely, kai just breathes her into existence without even trying. He just gravitates toward her and makes her the focus and THAT is interesting to me. I like that it’s their own curse when bringing him on the show that they also have to acknowledge that being in love or desiring bonnie is a part of him and without it, it’s not really kai:) so even if the ship didn’t happen or that people don’t agree with it, I just can’t help but return to it because of this specific character trait and design that he will always love her despite the writers and his overall fate as a character. That’s enough for me to want to give this story another chance. This also just kind of blindsided me haha, the ship was an entire surprise, and I’m not surprised often:)

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homebody-nobody · 2 years

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WIP game!

tagged by @largedenominationsplease

Rules: post the names of all the files in your WIP folder regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them and then post a little snippet of it or tell them something about it! And then tag as many people as you have wips. I have deemed that this isn’t just for writing either. Sketch titles? Comics? DnD campaigns? If you have an unfinished project, it counts!!

okay so here's the thing. I've been using my google drive to write original fic and fanfiction since I was fifteen, so. This is gonna be lawwwwng.

FANFICTION

outer banks

Engineering School AU notes home(where your heart is set in stone) home outline Jiara AUs Jiara week JJ's Lesbian Older Sister Meta katie's bday smut sincerity is scary outline the Parcels of Tannyhill

bellarke

"I got a dog" (She Returned) More Broken than Before All These Words I've Heard Before An Unexpected Guest Begginings of wicken fic (YOIKES) Bellarke fwp Bits and Pieces and To Be Used Clarke's Greek Pantheon Photography project Dancing in the dark devil's backbone - the civil wars domestic!bellarke bc im trash fire and stone (and a swingin trombone) Hot Boys and Indie Music (Make for a Pretty Great Summer) I have to tell you these flowers are for a dead person I'm Hers and She is Mine Library AU Library crush - bellarke fic more 30 minute fictions with the best friend Museum!Bellamy Rebel!Clarke hs au Silent Warrior, Screaming Youth SingleDad!Bellamy so go ahead and make your mark on me so go ahead and make your mark on me (REWRITE) Soulmate Words sweeter than sugar (colder than ice) the Bellamy Thing when the door sings closed you held my hand (and called me darling)

fleeting hyperfixations

beth x benny bones OC jatp college au jerin shoni fic ideas WayHaught Z nation

Percy Jackson

PJO lesbian Athena thing Solangelo??

Star Wars

Jyndor Lex and Gage

Voltron

klance high school AU shallura dancer au cause i have no self control Voltron Voltron AU#1 Young - The Chainsmokers

ORIGINAL WRITING

DnD

Cadogan Druhaven

other

A writer in venice throws his typewriter out the window one day Ace and Arthur Apparently sleep hates me Ari and Mel Band story Blacksmith Boy Brett and Nia Calliope and Wren long Castor and Pollux Chance and Ezra Denim and leather; Fire and ice Draconic Novice Draconic Novice Notes Dystopian society Elias and Charlie Ellie and Aaron Escape For Ryn's Birthday happy lesbians Henry, Tial, and Ellia Honos et Veritas I don't know what this was supposed to be but it was gay Isabelle the Ghost Whisperer Kira and Nell Kisae Dwellden Kyto and Petr Mark and Joanna start Men of the Moors Modern Magick modern magick Development Journey Modern Magick Trilogy Plot Outline Modern Magick Worldbuilding Modern Magick: Fire Modern Magick: Water Morgan and the Witch's son Nell doesn't look like a mafia princess Notes-Draconic Novice Paige and Katie Parker and Rae pirates story quarantine podcast Reece tells Kai that Jason is alive and he starts to cry Richard and Gabrielle? Runaway Mage Sign language zombie killers Some of Us Alive Stub The first thing he notices about her is her left hand The Four Suits the hill that grew the lindstrom sisters (bank robbers) the Rider General this is sad This wasn't where he wanted to be vegas motorcycle gang Vyvinuly wars beyond men wars beyond men rewrite (? third person ?) When War Comes white-Collar Trash wolves

so yeah there's a lot lol

tagging: @jojameswinter @a92vm @jiaraisinthegoodplace @smileymikey and whoever else wants to!!

#wip game #ask game #long post

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hysteriaww · 3 years

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Does kai love bonnie?

imo, YES 100%!! Tho to be fair, I don't think he loved her right away. I think when they met in '94, when he was emotionally stunted, he was prob fascinated, intrigued and vvv attracted to her at least in a surface-level, physical way (his constant flirting, "I wanted to feel your hand on my chest," "Naughty girl," etc.)

I think his feels prob grew closer to love after the Merge when he gained more empathy. I mean, he became obsessed with rescuing Bon from '94 and gaining her forgiveness to the point that he was ready to risk dying SO soon after getting the one thing he'd waited 22+18 years to get (coven leadership). Literally he merged in TVD 6x12 after waiting his whole life for it and 1 episode later, he was straight up ready to let his life, leadership and ENTIRE COVEN die *just* to save Bonnie!! Former sociopath Kai doing THAT?? If that isn't his version of love then idk what is!!

Then there's also the 6x17 fiasco where Kai was happy to return to his canonically WORST FEAR (yet another prison world) just to spend time w Bonnie. In the S6 finale, despite TVD trying to convince us that Kai was back to his pre-merge lack of feelings, he made it a point to tell Bon that he spelled Elena asleep specifically bc BON hurt his FEELINGS!! In S8, despite being in HELL for years partly bc of her, as soon as he's out, he's right back to "Lemme say hi!" "Did it sound like she missed me?" "Are you here to punish me? 'Cause that's kinda hot" In Legacies, while talking to Josie, he FONDLY reminisces about Bon tricking him w Miss Cuddles in tvd 16 YRS LATER! ...This is the same woman who trapped him back in his WORST FEAR, another prison world...

Kai is just so consistently preoccupied with Bonnie no matter what happens, or what she does to him in canon, that I genuinely believe this man is WHIPPED for her. Head over heels in love 😂Thank you for your question!!

#asks #kai parker #bonnie bennett #kai parker meta #bonkai #mine

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i-dreamed-i-had-a-son · 2 years

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Actually so emotional about Andrew Peter...just like. He just loves so much. He chooses to love life when it would be so easy to hate it. He loves people who aren't here anymore and people he never really knew, he loves people who tried to kill him and after all this time he's still trying to save them, he loves people he doesn't know but who love a different version of him, he loves those reflections of himself so much that he goes out of his way to tell them he does and to call them his brothers after so short a time...and they give him that love back, and they tell him he is worthy of it, and after everything, he hates himself a little less.

#spiderman no way home #spiderman no way home spoilers #andrew garfield #peter parker #marvel #and like it's so clear that his life is really difficult and he's still grieving so much after all these years #but still he remains at his core a boy fascinated with what life has to offer #he's thrown into a strange universe and surrounded by the unknown but the first thing he does is celebrate because string theory is real!#and he isn't happy all the time--of course not. he is deeply and quietly sad #but his sadness has settled with age from the wild emotion it had been and he has learned to love life not without it but in light of it #so we see him so exuberant and hopeful and excited and passionate and caring and *full of love*#but the one place that love and optimism is lacking is for himself. he can't forgive himself. he can't believe in himself.#not the same way he can believe in these other versions of him. these better versions who haven't failed or been failed like he has #BUT THEY BELIEVE IN HIM. they love him how he can't love himself and they call him amazing and encourage him to not give up #and he loves them even more because of it. he was so vulnerable with them--because he always is--and this time #this time when he shared his love he found love for himself in return.#and that just makes me so emotional. <3 #kay has a party in the tags #kay can i just catch my breath for a second #meta #my meta posts #quality meta seal of approval #not to hype my own post up i just put that on all meta posts so that i can find them #right in the feels #my ultimate favorite posts

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cancerian-woman · 2 years

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Kai parker legacies your take ?

Hey, anon!

Okay, let me preface this first I don’t really watch legacies(yet at least) I mainly view/read from social-media with that show so if I say something wrong feel free to correct me.

I actually think Kai is one of the best villains in tvdu. Chris portrayal of him in general perfect. I wish legacies could’ve ignored the monster-like plot line for at least one ep and made it more into a Kai vs. The Saltzmans instead of Kai “bonding” with just Josie? I have heard that dark!josie was supposed to be inspired by Katherine and seen takes about how she’s more like Kai than Lizzie is so that could’ve been there reason. Imo, it just should’ve been a Kai vs. The Saltzmans thing.

Now, onto the other part. We learn that Kai had sexual relationship with Jade in the prison worlds. Of course he’s finally allowed to have any kind of physical or romantic relationship when the other partner is white & no where near resembling to Bonnie. When he originally spent most of his time with Bonnie..As if the writing couldn’t tailor a sexual/romantic relationship for Bonkai? They were already in the prison world for awhile so why was their relationship just so antagonistic? the writers just didn’t want the black girl to be lusted/adored after.

While we on the topic of bonkai what really makes that ship so different from other ships such Freelin/Delena/Klaroline/Kolvina etc?

“Bonnie completely hated Kai.” Hm, so did all the other women in these ships? What’s your point? It’s just that Bonnie is the only character to say she dislikes a character and it remained that way which we know why! I like bonkai. I’m not telling anyone what to ship or not ship. But they had the chemistry and the potential had they been pushed. Bonkai shippers get slandered often for shipping them together when it’s the same template for the other pairings in the show. This isn’t to excuse Kai’s actions either..but those characters got to get married/have kids etc…To add I wish people understood what you FICTIONALLY like does not equal to your in real life morals and you shouldn’t be penalized for enjoying something fictionally. I hope that gives an answer you were looking for!

#dria responds #bonkai #Kai Parker #Bonnie bennett #uhh…#anti legacies #i guess?#lol #anti delena #anti klaroline #anti Kolvina #anti freelin #this got longer than expected…#anyways remember when prison worlds was a bennett thing and now legacies just use them all the time??#pls get Bonnie out of that basement i know she tired #tvd meta

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thefudge · 3 years

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Despite what happened between kai and bonnie do you think kai misses bonnie after all this time?

100% yes, cuz nothing else makes sense, canonically

so, what really gets me about bonkai is that the writers accidentally set them up as unfortunate forever soulmates because they're connected by so many things, but especially by this one experience only the two of them had and which only the two of them understand. no one else besides bonnie and kai has done the prison world experience completely alone. they're also the two people who have abandoned each other in the prison world on purpose and, in both cases, it felt like a form of personal betrayal. bonnie might have conflicted feelings about damon and elena and the prison world, but they are far less intense than what she feels for kai in relation to this very private experience. like, they had to go and make bonnie an OOC heretic in order to ramp up the drama between her and damon and her and enzo, when this conflict had already developed organically with kai a season earlier.

so, the ugliness and despair the prison world brought out of bonnie is only really understood by kai, and vice versa. like, elena & damon think they can appeal to kai's good/naive side and often underestimate him, but only bonnie knows how to tackle him, warts and all. bonnie is aware that she has a certain pull over kai, while being totally in denial about it. kai is pretty explicit about the pull he feels towards her, but he also plays it off as a fun, flirtatious dynamic when, in fact, it brings up a lot of raw emotions in him. they're both idiots about it, basically.

on top of all that, they're both witches hailing from powerful covens and have been deeply misunderstood by said covens/families. they're both prodigies in their own way and they've both operated with magic on their own, sometimes unorthodox, terms. the similarities only multiply from here.

so, given all that, i'd say kai will always miss bonnie, because she's not only "the one that got away" but literally the only person who could actually put up with him and see him for who he is. she's the only person he'd let himself feel things for. it's made clear that kai's other flings are always pragmatic/based on what he can get out of it. bonnie's that one equal with whom he'd be comfortable being vulnerable, mostly because bonnie has already made him vulnerable so many times. like sure, he also misses the cat-and-mouse games and their chemistry and banter, and i don't think he'd ever let himself be completely soft with her (bc i don't think she'd want that either), but a part of him definitely yearns to be understood. notice how many times he gets angry when people don't keep up or misinterpret his actions/intentions. bonnie is that special kind of enemy/partner that he can always rely on to get him. hell, it's canon that she can sense him through a cellphone.

the funny and bizarre tragedy of kai parker is that, for all his cons and tricks and calculated cold-bloodedness, he will forever be in earnest love with bonnie bennett, do-gooder and righteous witch who constantly decks him on sight. and he very much likes the fact that she decks him on sight. it's the funniest and most painful shit ever. i hate it here.

lol why...am i always in my bonkai feels with these asks

#bonkai #bonnie bennett #kai parker #meta #replies

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staliaqueen · 2 years

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someday I’m gonna write a long ass tvd meta post about siphons as an analogy for neurodivergency you just wait

#the vampire diaries #legacies #kai parker #malachai parker #valerie tulle #tvd malcom #nora hildegard #mary louise #tvd beau #tvd oscar #lizzie saltzman #josie saltzman #tvd meta #the vampire diaries meta #legacies meta

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yum-cupcakes · 3 years

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At first when I saw that video where Chris Wood says Kai would marry Bonnie, merge with Miss Cuddles and kill everyone else I thought of it as a joke, but now I feel it’s actually in character.

I mean Kai’s been watching Bonnie for about 4 months in the prison world, and saw how important that teddy bear is to her. So he puts it on display when she wakes up, and then brings it to her as a present when they are about to leave the prison world.

And then in 6x15, even though he is not with her anymore he still mentions the bear, he says to Jo “put your magic into a teddy bear and gimme”.

Even in Legacies the bear was mentioned as many times as Bonnie was mentioned. He tells Josie that that actually happened to him with a teddy bear once, and has a fond look on his face. And then even with Hope, he finds the ascendant in a plushie, and asks “why is it always the stuffed animals?It’s the weirdest thing.” Neither Josie nor Hope knows what he’s referring to, but he still feels the need to mention it. Miss Cuddles made a big impact on Kai almost as much as Bonnie.

It’s like what is important to Bonnie also became an important part for Kai, even after decades. 🥲

#bonkai #kai parker #anti tvd #mini meta

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leianaberrie · 9 months

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One thing the Bonkai fandom is gonna do is make me fall down a rabbit hole of so many headcanon and possible theories. I love how Bonkai shippers don’t just have a great imagination when it comes to Bonnie and Kai but also extend this to other Bennetts. Like I saw a headcanon about Abby and Mikael, another about Lucy and Mason. I wish there was a fic out there that included an extensive flashback about Abby luring Mikael away from MF and how she did it.

I think I can safely say that by the time I get round to writing the part of Long Shadows that flashes back (in a weird sense) to the time that Abby lured and captured Mikael, most readers (whoever's left lol) would have forgotten I posted this.

I don't know if anyone else has noticed this, but Mikael was trapped and Abby left her family in 1994...

#bonkai #kai parker #bonnie bennett #gemini coven #tvd meta #my writing

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andreal831 · 18 days

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Do you like the character of Kai Parker?

My feelings for Kai are similar to my feelings for Lucien. I love/hate him. Honestly, they are basically the same character.

I love them as a villain but hate when people try to defend them or make them into something they just aren't. They are just uncomplicated serial killers who take joy in the pain and suffering of others. And that can be entertaining in fictional worlds.

Kai does not get a shred of redemption. His only slight redeeming qualities are his somewhat emotions he begins to feel after he kills his brother. And even these emotions aren't enough to stop him from being a terror to everyone. He kills his sister while she is pregnant at her wedding. He is a terrible person who abused everyone he came in contact with.

Yes, he's funny and yes, he's attractive. But he is a villain through and through. It doesn't matter that he has a sad childhood. It doesn't excuse everything he did after that. His anger wasn't just towards those who hurt him as a child, but everyone he came in contact with.

Again, I liked his character for what it was. I liked that they never tried to redeem him and he just died. And even when he came back, he was still awful. I've seen he comes back in Legacies, and I cheated and googled that he does die again, which I love. I know most of my favorite characters are villains and I love to deal with that complexity, but I also love a good, simple villain. Especially in a show with so many "morally grey" or "complex villains." Sometimes we just need someone to be uncomplicatedly bad. I also think they needed a character like Kai in TVD after the Mikaelsons left. I know they had Silas but I was a little disappointed in Silas, he almost felt too juvenile. Whereas Kai was over here actually making me worried for my favs while at the same time being entertaining.

Basically I love the character, he doesn't rank high for me in favorites, but I enjoy the seasons he is in.

Thanks for the ask!

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bonkaii4 · 4 years

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How would you describe bonkai relationship even now in a meta

hmmmm I think their relationship can be interpreted a lot of ways especially dealing with post and pre merge kai. Which is how imma break this post up sorta.There’s the competitive antagonist and protagonist side and then there’s them completely each other being complete opposite but being exactly what each other needs.

The competitive side of their relationship is definitely more of pre merge kai but post merge kai would definitely love challenging bonnie. From the beginning kai and bonnie enjoy foiling each other’s plans. Kai is loves the little cat and mouse game they play in his PW, he’s never mad at her tryinh to stop him untill she succeededs in those two instances 1.Bonnie sending Damon back 2.Bonnie sending her magic away, but even then he looks back at that time fondly when he says “that happend to me with a teddy bear once.” I think Kai sees Bonnie as his only equal the only one who can match him on all levels. And with post merge kai I think this changes from him wanting her to challenge him to Kai wanting to challenge her to realize her full potential of being completely unstoppable. As for Bonnie Kai was her first real personal villain and she took pride in defeating and out smarting him. Unlike other tvd villains most of them underestimate her, want to control her, or jus down right disrespect her. Kai is different as i said before he sees her as his equal and I think she recognizes that so the challenge of beating him is more fun to her. Bonnie also truly sees how evil pre merge(and lets be honest s8 Kai) is and unlike ofher villains she cant appese to their humanity so again she takes pride and hitting where it hurts where ever she can.

Now for them completely each other(aka the mooshie side, aka the side i love the most) Let’s start off how completely opposite they are yet they are both one of the most lonely characters. Kai abused and neglected for most of his life becomes a sociopath, he’s never felt love or human connection so he obsess over his birth right of becoming gemini leader. He has been isolated his entire life and all he truly wants is to live that life at the end of the day. Then there’s Bonnie who has felt warmth from her grams and parents at one point, but has had all of that ripped away from her, from her mother abandoning her, grams dieing, and her distant father. So to avoid the loss of anyone else she loves she sacrifices herself over and over again and still winds up alone. But together it’s different Bonnie would have someone who never abondon her and kai would have someone whould’nt shun away due to him being a siphoner.

I would elaborate futher but i feel like this post is already too long🙈 but this isn’t nearly all my thoughts them mighy make a follow up post.

#bonkai #bonnie bennett #kai parker #bonaki meta #first meta?#meta #ask me

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jamfingers · 7 years

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Some Background on That One Super Famous Cluster B Personality Disorder and Some Brief Meta Tying It to Kai Parker’s Problematic (but Fine AF) Ass Because I Said I Would Do This

Okay, this isn’t a research paper, so I’m not going to put ref points throughout the post, but I’ll write down the full names of the texts and articles I used at the bottom in case you’re interested in checking them out yourself. Some info/pics come from old annotated notes, but I likely will only use those for examples provided by previous professors. NONE of these visuals are mine, they’re copyrighted and I’m posting them for educational purposes. I’m making no profit off of this. Obviously. This is a damn fan blog.

First off, lets talk behavior and psychopathology, then I’ll get into like...the barest bit of some of the complex anatomy and physiology behind them. Then I’ll talk Kai Parker a little and how he fits this. This post is gonna be hellaciously long, since it’s an academic reference/meta, so read more under the cut:

Personality is something pervasive, long term, and generally not mutable in a person. And individual’s personality will develop in childhood and are measured by rating the general patterns of disordered conduct/socializing of traits known as the big 5: neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. These traits, like anything dealing with the mind, are measured on a spectrum and patterns of extremely high pervasiveness of traits in some areas and extremely low pervasiveness in others that results in a diminished or troubled quality of life is what results in a personality disorder.

Personality disorders are sorted into 3 groups called clusters:

Kai falls into cluster B - he has antisocial personality disorder (ASPD from here on, can also be noted as APD), historically called “sociopathy”. ASPD is more commonly diagnosed in men than in women, (although this might be in part due to societal/gender biases of both the patient and the clinician, but I digress), with a prevalence in the clinical population of 3.9-5.9% and in the general population of 1.0%-1.8%. It’s rare, but not the rarest personality disorder by any means. No unicorns here.

I personally denote ASPDers as the biggest con-artist assholes you’ll ever have the displeasure of meeting, but that’s not very academic, so I’ll copy my one of my textbook’s format and break this up into a few categories. More information can be found in references.

Clinical Description And Criteria:

“I am entitled to break rules.”

That right there is the sun with which ASPD revolves around. The disorder is characterized by extreme selfishness and disregard for others, highly impulsive and risky behavior (like drug use, reckless stunts, fighting), and unusual emotional responses and fits of rage, but no deficits in reasoning ability. People with ASPD know what they’re doing, understand the social norms/ rules behind them and don’t care. In regards to the Big 5 personality traits this is what they look like (L is low, H is high):

And diagnostic criteria for ASPD on the DSM-5 looks like this:

YOU HAVE TO HAVE DISPLAYED CONDUCT DISORDER AS A CHILD TO BE DIAGNOSED WITH ASPD AFTER 18. Remember an individual’s personality develops in childhood and is long-lasting. Conduct disorder in children is diagnosed with this criteria:

ASPD has a pretty high heritabilty (about 40-50%) and it’s fostered in hostile environments characterized by lack of warmth, exposure to violence, high negativity, parental inconsistency or parental ASPD, and/or poverty.

While ASPD is associated with poor impulse control, there is still no deficit in reasoning ability. ASPDers with a high intelligence quotient (IQ) are less likely to get caught or engage in illegal or destructive behavior because they know the game. They’d rather be free to fuck people over than in a system and can be quite adept at hiding their traits. This leads me to psychopathy. There’s still some debate about whether psychopathy should be considered different from ASPD, but most clinicians these days agree that psychopathy as a subset of symptoms that fall under ASPD. So just like all squares are rectangles, but not all rectangles are squares, all psychopaths (at this point) are ASPDers, but not all ASPDers are psychopaths.

Psychopathy:

Defining characteristics of psychopathy include:

If you’re having a hard time reading this, the red and blue branches indicate what aspects of psychopathy are influenced by what bit of anatomy dysregulation. AMG - amygdala, PCC - posterior cingulate cortex, MPFC - medial prefrontal cortex. The coronal slices (red, bottom blue) are as if you’re looking at a person face to face - your left is their right. Top blue is scanned from the right side (See that scrunchy round thing behind the straight part? Below the “PCC”? That’s the cerebellum behind the brain stem. It’s in the back of your head, to help with orientation.) Middle blue is as if you and the person are facing the same direction, but you’re taller and looking straight down on their head. Hope that helps you out!

In general, with regards to criminal behavior, high IQ psychopaths are called “subclinical” psychopaths and are not generally studied bc...well, they blend in. They find other, legal or discreet ways to fulfill thrill seeking behavior.

Psychopathy has some actual distinct differences in the brain that can be physiologically measured. It’s typically shown by differences in the the right amygdala and the anterior rostral prefrontal cortex (arPFC from here on), especially on the right side. (The right hemisphere of the brain is responsible for emotional recognition and expression, while the amygdala controls fear responses/recognition and the PFC in general controls different aspects of higher cognition. In this case, it’s likely the conversion of emotionality to morality, since emotions play a large part in fostering sympathy and from there moral judgement.) See?

Integrative Biopsychosocial Model of APD:

Bio (Genetics and neurobiology): Twin and adoption studies show that ASPD is highly heritable, but it’s the gene-environment interaction that is integral for ASPD development. ASPD is an endophenotype - the underlying aspects of disorder are genetic (low levels serotonin and dopamine (the chemical neurotransmitters), or in the case of psychopaths, low levels of serotonergic or dopaminergic axons (the anatomy that receives the NT)) and provide the unique emotional aspects of ASPD, but the social behavior presentation is guided by the environment (early childhood stress, lack of social guidance, etc). The arousal theory, if you’re interested, is based of the endophenotypes and can explain how certain behaviors arise from them (i.e. ASPDers, esp. psychopaths, are stimulation seeking bc of low response in reward systems (serotonergic/dopaminergic)). *I add on dopamine bc it’s an important chemical in the brain’s reward system, but serotonin is the key one.

Psychosocial (mental and environmental): Inconsistent parental punishments, lack of punishment for aggressive/antagonist behavior, environments that propagate violence, high risk-reward and fearless psychology all lend themselves to the development of the disorder.

The disorder is like a measuring cup and each influence is water filling it until the water level reaches the mark where the disorder presents itself.

When it comes to ASPD, prevention, not treatment is preferred. Redirecting behavior patterns in kids with conduct disorder is your best bet compared to trying to get a fully formed, highly aggressive ASPD adult to behave.

Here’s a case study from my abnormal psych textbook depicting what the you’d most likely see in clinical ASPD case (i.e. in “the system” , like prison or a hospital):

(See why I said con-artists asshole? Ryan’s a fucking dick.)

References:

“Abnormal Psychology: An Integrative Approach” 7th Edition, David H. Barlow & V. Mark Durand {This is the book I used in my psychopathology class, which is for...understanding pathologies of the mind lol.}

“Neuroscience” 5th Edition, Dale Purves {Great book for detailed anatomy and physiology of neural circuits, and I didn’t get into like I could, but the emotion chapter is dense and that’s a lot of info to slam you with.}

“The Foundations of Behavioral Neuroscience” 9th Edition, Neil R. Carlson {Easy to read and a great general capstone text}

Okay, so now that we got the science, on to Kai Parker:

Right, so I think it’s safe to say that, canonically, Kai mostly fits the criteria for ASPD, but you’re def free to go back over all that up there and do your own comparison. We all know how Kai is an admitted “sociopath”. Considering Joshua Parker’s behavior, we can probably take a gander on the genetic component and considering the entire Gemini premise, plus the way Kai in particular was raised as the outsider in his family, we have an idea of the hostile and warmth-lacking environment that fostered it.

Because it’s TVD, I do think Kai was written to cater that whole “handsome, suburban white boy gone wrong” schtick, but I also think he’s one of the most subtly well-fleshed characters that show ever produced. There’s this one article I read for a neuro lit course (“Loneliness and associated violent antisocial behavior: analysis of the case reports of Jeffrey Dahmer and Dennis Nilsen.” authored by W.H. Martens and G.B. Palmero) that really stuck to me in a pervasive way and it’s about how chronically festering feelings of neglect and loneliness, of feeling like an unaccepted outsider, drove Dahmer and Nilsen to take their victim’s lives in a misguided way to dissuade the loneliness.

Having read that makes me wonder how Kai, the fictional serial killer, reflects his real life counterparts. The drive for merging and becoming coven leader is something that would force others to acknowledge him, which ties into his “black sheep” speech, his “I was never hugged as a child and my siblings were kept away” complaint (There are a lot of inconsistencies in his dialogued back story that bother me, but it makes me wonder if he ever lied about his past: “my favorite memory is when I finally beat him to death” and the preceding story about Mario Kart with the bby bro seems like something he might have just made up to fuck with Elena), and other vocalizations he’s made about his past which point to him being the misfit and desiring a sense of belonging. While we know Kai’s ASPD is a part of his characterization, this to me seems out of the norm for this disorder, simply because it indicates an understanding of sympathy that is unwittingly emotional.

Of course, Kai could also just want to be able to lord the world’s biggest “FU!” over his abusers.

Either way, anti or not, when using the ASPD/sociopath argument to defend or dismantle Kai as a character, I think it’s a good idea to keep in mind that Kai was written inconsistently. He shows very little impulsivity or recklessness in 1994, one trait which is almost a given with ASPD, nor was he flightly/irresponsible. He always had some end-goal or plan in mind. This was pre-merge. But he was also manipulative and showed no regret about the people he hurt. Obviously, each case of the disorder is unique because they exist on a spectrum, but the pattern and criteria are there due to broad commonalities in each case. The way the media tends to portray ASPD is not all consistent with the way the disorder presents irl.

#Kai parker #ASPD info #antisocial personality disorder #kai parker meta #tvd meta #bonkai #which I mean...i guess

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