#like genuinely I see no difference between him and him in books of doom

[theemissuniverse]

Okay, okay, so I read the Shao Kahn fic for the first time earlier (I was avoiding it because I’ve never liked Shao Kahn), and now I’m genuinely questioning things about myself. He’s such a smug bitch and I’m ??? attracted to that?? (part 1 had me choking on my drink when it got to the NSFW part) All in all, extremely well-written, phenomenal characterization, I love how sassy the reader is because I actually see myself in them (I’m sick and tired of the timid, excessively submissive “I’m not like other girls” Y/N, so it’s a nice change of pace) also, the bits with Mileena were cute as hell. It made me think of-

Y/N: Alright, listen up, you motherfuckers. Not you, Mileena. You’re doing great and I’m glad you’re here.

But yeah, thank you for the food. I am now questioning my absolute loathing for Shao Kahn.

“IMPENDING DOOM” SHAO KAHN X FEM!READER PART 3

here’s part 1

here’s part 2

A/N : thank you! I’m glad that I’ve impressed the majority with you with this series! This is something I really like because it’s different

WARNINGS : (MDNI) thigh riding, praising, cumming

MASTERLIST 1 , MASTERLIST 2

Questioning your relationship with Shao Kahn took place at an everyday occurrence. It was something that ran through your mind at a constant rate.

He was the cruel tyrant awaiting to conquer all realms. Not when he was with you though. Everything was different.

The way he acted around you, the way he treated you, the way he’d constantly make an effort for you.

It gave you…butterflies?

You had to of been ill. There was no way in the very depths of Outworld that you could ever fall for a man like Shao Kahn. It was uncanny.

You were in the dining hall, seated by yourself. You constantly tried to lift the fork that was sitting on the table. You managed to lift it at a great height until your magic gave up on you and it fell on the table. You sighed.

Someone had pulled up a chair to sit next to you. It was Mileena. “Your telekinetic gift has grown. Perhaps it is my father’s doing?”

You rested your chin on your hand. “Unfortunately, I have to give it to him - I did not expect for me to grasp this so quickly.”

A presence was behind you. “I still cannot understand why the Emperor would choose such a weak woman.”

You didn’t have to turn around to see who it was. You knew it was Skarlet. “Thanks for the words of wisdom, Skar.” You stuck your thumb out sarcastically as a ‘thumbs up.’ “Always can count you, dude.”

Mileena turned to Skarlet, annoyed. “Don’t you have something better to do, vampire.”

Skarlet was offended by this. “I am no vampire, you failed Kitana clone.”

Mileena slammed her fist on the table and got up from her chair. “I am no clone!”

You got in between them. “Ladies. How bout we take five, yeah?”

The two of them stared down each other before Skarlet walked away. Mileena grumbled under her breath and crossed her arms.

You turned your attention back to Mileena. “Don’t worry about her. Let her be obsessed with her own father…or whatever Shao is to her.”

You sat down in your chair and continued to try and lift the fork into the air. Mileena just stared at you, curiously. “Do you really want to go through with the marriage?”

Pausing, you stared down at the fork. It was a valid question. You just didn’t have a valid answer. “I…don’t know.”

“My father is a lot of things but…he would never actually force you to do anything. If he’s doing all this then that means he knows that deep down, your heart desires it.”

The statement struck you. Because it was at least slightly true. Especially what Shang Tsung had told you. You were tired of being third best. You wanted to be the best.

Shao Kahn could give you that.

Were you starting to become the very villain you feared? All because you adored power?

Mileena walked away from you and you continued to sit there, getting tangled into your thoughts.

Hours had passed by and you were in your room. You were busy reading your book. The door had opened. You didn’t have to bother looking up. “Made anyone cry today?”

Shao Kahn rested his hammer on a chair not far from the door. “No but it’s only 3 in the afternoon.” He said, making you snicker. He took his red cape off and hung it on a nearby wall. “How was your day today?”

“We are not doing the husband and wife, asking each other about our days fiasco.” When you had said it, Shao Kahn uttered a laugh.

“What do you suggest we talk about then?”

“I don’t know. World hunger? Poor people? Anything else.”

Shao Kahn made his way towards the bathroom. He turned the water on for his bath. “Remind me to kill Reiko.”

The statement caught you off guard. You brought your head from your book and looked over to him. “Should I even ask why?”

Shao Kahn walked out of the bathroom and to the dresser where the big mirror was. He started to take off his rings. “He was in my chambers trying on my crown.”

“Damn. Dude might have a death wish.”

“And I will grant him that.”

You thought about it for a moment. You decided to test him. To see if you truly had that much control over Shao as you thought and everyone else did.

You clicked your tongue to the roof of your mouth. “Why don’t you ease up on Reiko?”

“Why do you ask or care about that?”

You closed your book and sat up on the bed. Shao Kahn did not turn to face you as he took every ring off his fingers. “I mean, he’s a great soldier. And he only tried on your crown because he admires you so much. It’d be a shame if all that loyalty would go to waste.”

Amazement wasn’t even the word. Shao Kahn was actually pondering on what you were saying. It took him a minute. “You are right. I will give him one more chance.”

You had done it. You actually convinced Shao to do something and actually not kill someone.

Shao walked back into the bathroom to stop the water. He walked back into the room and removed his crown before placing it back on the dresser.

“We will marry tomorrow night.”

Your eyes widen. You stood up from the bed and walked over to him. “Tomorrow? Isn’t that sudden?”

“I told you it would be soon.”

“Okay but like you didn’t say when so by definition, you telling me this is sudden.”

Shao brushed your comment off and started to unbuckle his pants. “You should join me.”

Last time he had asked you, you were annoyed. Bothered. But this time when he asked, you wanted to.

And god did you hate yourself for wanting to.

“Okay…but you have to keep your hands to yourself.”

Shao stopped in his tracks. He looked at you, a little stunned. He did not actually expect you to take on his offer but he was not complaining in the slightest. “You are asking me to do the impossible, my Empress.”

“Tuh.” You shoved past him a little, going to the bathroom. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll make it possible.”

Shao Kahn chuckled. He had always enjoyed your threats and you couldn’t begin to understand why.

He turned around so he was facing you. By that time you already had your whole evening gown off. You were unclipping your bra.

He watched as your bra fell to the ground. And then you took off your underwear.

This was the first time Shao had seen you naked and he had to admit, it was beautiful sight to see.

You were extremely gorgeous. Everything about you screamed beauty to him. He couldn’t help but get lost in all that was you.

You noticed his staring. You felt yourself get a little shy and you tapped your foot on the ground. “Stop staring at me like that.”

Shao didn’t break his gaze on you. “Like what?”

“Like you enjoy what you’re seeing.”

Shao Kahn broke out of his trance. He took some steps towards you. Very careful steps. The air was thick. It felt like you could cut the tension with a knife.

He made it to you face to face. As much as he wanted to touch you in all the right places, he’d respect what you had said. For now at least.

He lifted your chin up high so your eyes could meet his. “I do enjoy what I’m seeing.”

You hated it. You hated the way the tyrant made you feel. How could he of all people make you feel this way?

Your hands landed on his exposed chest. They rubbed all over slightly before then reaching to the buckle of his pants. You finished unbuckling his pants and when you did, his pants slid down with ease.

No eye contact was broken. You grabbed onto his underwear and slid them down as well. The two of you being completely naked.

“Shall we?” You asked.

Shao stared at you for some time before walking a little bit past you. He got in the tub on the right side, leaning back.

While his bathroom was huge, his tub felt like it was even bigger. Even with you going into the tub there would be a lot of space between you two.

You got in on the left side and sat down before leaning back. “Why do men like cold ass water when they bathe?” You questioned.

Shao gave you a look. “Cold? This is boiling hot.”

“No it is not. My grandma’s frying pan is hotter than this.”

When you said that, it made Shao Kahn laugh. A genuine laugh. You couldn’t help but bust out laughing yourself.

Shao Kahn wanted to appreciate the silence. He really did but he had a few things on his mind. “Why did you join the tournament? And how are you so close to Liu Kang and Kung Lao? You are no monk.”

You gasped sarcastically. “Really? I’m not a monk? Thanks Inspector Gadget.” Shao rolled his eyes playfully but didn’t say anything. You sighed a little. “I was living with my Grandma until I was seven. Someone raided the home and killed her. I lived on the street which felt like decades. Probably about three years. Then I met this one guy. Some thug was messing with him. The guy was a big guy too. Like a big ass guy.” Shao chuckled at the emphasis you put on it.

You tapped your finger on the side of the tub. “Well the big ass guy wasn’t having it. Not at all. He kicked his ass. And when I mean kicked his ass I mean…he really did a number on him. But the guy…this big ass dude didn’t fight him by the usual. Not a gun. Not no punch to the face or kick to the balls. He was…he was using everything. His hands, his feet, his head, everything.”

“So, I went up to him. I was like ‘that was cool! You gotta teach me that!’ He told me that I wasn’t ready. To come to him another time. He tried to walk away but I wouldn’t let him. I was like ‘please. Just tell me how you did that! I need to know! I don’t want to end up like my grandma!’ He turns to me and he goes ‘you really don’t know?’ Told him no. He told me that it was martial arts. But not just any. It was…it was to actually kill someone.”

“Told him my whole story. My parents dipped out on me, grandma died, and he took me in. His name was Master Bo’ Rai Cho.”

At the reveal, Shao Kahn couldn’t believe it. He gave you a look. “That drunken fool?”

“Yup. That’s where I met Liu Kang and then Kung Lao. That’s why we’re so close. I still don’t know why I was chosen to be in the tournament.”

“Because that fool Raiden saw something great.”

You scoffed. “Raiden. Yeah. He’s something.”

The relationship between you and Raiden had always been rocky. You felt like he favored Liu Kang and Kung Lao all the time.

He never believed in you and you’d guess you couldn’t blame him. It was only just now you were in tune with your telekinesis.

“How did you find out about your gift?”

“I was sixteen. I got angry at something. Can’t remember what. But all I saw was…anger and I threw Bo Rai Cho across the room using my mind. They say you usually gain abilities like that through trauma.”

Shao Kahn watched as you went from enjoying telling the story to complete sadness. It stung him a little that your mood could shift so easily.

He grabbed the bottle of soap and placed it on his hands. Then set the bottle down before then grabbing your right foot and rubbing in the soap on your leg. “Gifts such as that are a blessing and a curse.”

You let out a tired sigh. “More so a curse for me.” You played with the soap bottles that were sitting on the ledge. “Everybody has their own thing. Raiden is the God of Thunder. Liu Kang is the chosen one. Kung Lao is the descendant of a great champion. I’m just… me…”

Shao was actually taking in everything you had said. It was starting to make sense to him. As he knew you craved power, he just hadn’t known why.

“You’re going to be The Empress of Outworld. You beat them all in a landslide.”

You couldn’t help but smile at little. Usually you’d argue with him. That you never wanted to do this. That this was all done by force but for some reason now when he said it, it felt right.

Standing up in the water, Shao watched you. He wasn’t expecting for you to go over to his side. You turned your body around and then sat down in the water before leaning your back against his chest.

Shao Kahn was pleasantly surprised but he wouldn’t make that known. He didn’t want you to get up from him. He grabbed the soap bottle and placed some soap in his hands. Then he set the bottle down and began to rub the soap in your back.

You hummed a little at the feeling of his hands on your body. His hands were rough but he made sure to rub softly in your back.

He washed your back with the water until there was no more soap. His hands were clean of soap.

Shao’s hands started to run along your body. Especially at your breasts. He was waiting for you to object but you didn’t.

You moaned at his touches and sat even further back on him. He played with your nipples and cupped your breasts like they belonged to him.

Something came over you. You couldn’t help it. You turned your head around to kiss Shao but he had stopped you.

He placed a finger on your lips. “I want to save that for tomorrow night.”

You were a little shocked. Shao Kahn had more self control then you did.

You turned your head back and allowed Shao Kahn to continue to massage all over your body.

Like you were made for him.

Later on, everyone had disappeared as tomorrow was a busy day.

You didn’t have anything to do. Shao Kahn just told you to show up to the wedding and look pretty.

Bored out your mind with everyone gone, you decided to do some snooping around the palace.

Nothing changed much. You couldn’t find anything that you didn’t see before.

That was until you found a door.

There was something eerie about the door. You couldn’t describe it. Something just told you to open it.

And you opened it.

When opening the door, you walked in further. There were stairs.

You went down the stairs where you could hear cries for help and screams of agony. It disturbed you.

Making it to the very bottom, you saw people were in prison cells. That or they were chained. You were shocked.

Most of the people were monsters or were in mutated form. Besides one.

You walked closer to the woman. She was a black woman with glowing eyes. Her hair was black, straight, and in a bob. Her outfit was completely yellow.

You had wondered what the woman could’ve possibly done for her to end up down here.

She noticed your presence. She immediately stood up from the ground and hurried to you in an instant. She of course was stopped by the cell. “Please! You have to help me! I’ll do anything! I’m good for it! Tell the Kahn that I’m good for it! My name is Tanya.”

You tilted your head at the woman. You were no fool. There was something about her that didn’t seem so innocent.

You leaned against the wall and motioned with your hand for her to talk. “Well, Tanya you might want to convince me as to why I should let you go. It’s kinda creepy down here and I want to bounce.”

“Shao Kahn slaughtered everyone when he raided Edenia. He had only kidnapped a few of us. Now, I am not sure where the rest of my people are. And I don’t care. I just want out of here.”

Tanya pauses as she takes a good look at you. “You are not from Outworld.”

“How’d you figure that one out?”

“You do not talk as if you are from Outworld. Also, everyone in Outworld knows not to come down here. They are afraid of what Shao Kahn might do to them. You must be from Earthrealm.”

“Ding-ding-ding! We have a winner!” You said sarcastically. You stopped leaning on the wall and walked closer to her cell. “My name is (Y/N). And I don’t think he’s gonna do much to me. He’s got a soft spot for me.”

Tanya’s eyes widen at this. “An Earthrealmer? I had not predicted Shao Kahn would fall for one.”

“Story of my life. Still haven’t really convinced me as to why I should put myself in jeopardy to release you.”

“I am loyal! I will serve the Kahn of Outworld. Please. You have to convince him.”

You thought about it for a moment. You were going to be with Shao Kahn whether you liked it or not. You mind as well get something out of it.

“You will not.” You told her. “You will serve me. I am to be the Empress of Outworld tomorrow night.”

Tanya could not believe that. “An Earthrealmer being an Empress? Shao Kahn must be love struck.”

“Trust me, I’m banging my head against the wall about it. Know this though, do not underestimate me for being an Earthrealmer. Do not think you can cross me.”

“I would never, Empress.”

You gave her one final look as if to really see if this was worth it. You then shrugged at it. What was the worse Shao could do to you?

“Stand back.”

Tanya listened to your command and walked away from the bars on the cell. You stared at the bars. You concentrated everything with your mind. You then ended up destroying the bars with your mind.

Tanya looked at you in amazement. “I have never seen an Earthrealmer with so much power.”

“I’m a hat full of tricks.” You grabbed Tanya’s hand and helped her out of the cell. “Come on.”

You brought her upstairs. Then made sure to close the door behind you.

When you turned around, you saw Shao Kahn sitting in the dining area with Shang Tsung, Reiko, Skarlet, and Mileena.

You motioned for Tanya to follow you. Shao turned into your direction and when he had seen you with Tanya, his face twisted with confusion and anger.

You spoke before he would get the chance.

“She already pledged her allegiance to me so don’t go out on a villain monologue on why she needed to stay down there. She’ll prove she’s worthy. And if she doesn’t…simply end her. You can’t always scare your way into people following you. You wanted an Earthrealm Empress. This how we deal with things in Earthrealm.”

Shao stayed silent as he heard your explanation. The others awaited to for his anger to combust. For him to get rowdy with you but he did not. He stayed silent.

When Skarlet had seen this, she immediately stood up from her seat. “Emperor, she made a decision without consulting you! She puts this whole empire at risk for the generosity that she shows!”

“Oh?” You questioned her. “Was it not generosity when Shao Kahn took you off the streets and taught you blood magic?” You turned to Mileena. “Was it not generosity for Shao Kahn making Shang Tsung give you life?” You turned to Reiko. “Was it not generosity that saved your ass from death because he had listened to me instead of himself?” You finally turned to look at Shang Tsung. “Was it not generosity for him to give your old ass life and now you don’t look like a dying raisin anymore.”

You turned back to Shao that looked like he was pondering on your words. “Is this not generosity? Taking me in? Treating me like I am your own? Is that not what this is? Call me weak if you want to but you’re the one that wanted a weak woman.”

Shao Kahn stayed silent. Skarlet had seen he was really siding with you. “Emperor I-“

Shao lifted his hand up to stop her from speaking. “You are far from weak, (Y/N).” He put his hand down. “You are going to be the new Empress. You are free to do or make any decisions as you please.”

The tyrant actually supported you? Now everyone had seen everything.

“Join us for dinner.”

Tanya bent down to whisper in your ear. “I am amazed at how much of a soft spot he has for you.”

You snickered a little. “I told you.”

You and Tanya took your seats. When you were sat down, Shao Kahn spoke to Reiko. “Reiko. Thank (Y/N) as without her you would not be alive.”

Reiko turned his attention towards you. “Thank you, Empress.”

You shrugged some while eating. “It’s whatever.”

Everyone heard plates clatter and turned to see Skarlet aggressively slam her fork down and walk away.

Shao Kahn rolled his eyes at her behavior. “She is always a brat.”

You shook your head and continued eating your food, wondering how much longer Skarlet’s behavior towards you would go on.

It was late at night. You and Shao Kahn were getting ready for bed. He was sitting at the edge of the bed rubbing lotion all over his body.

You were at the dresser, taking off your earrings and necklace.

You wanted to fight the feeling you had toward him. Everything in your being was screaming to not fall for the man but you couldn’t help it.

The way he stuck up for you in front of everyone was not only kind of him but was extremely sexy to you.

You felt the wetness between your thighs form. You bit your lip slightly as you tried to push away those thoughts.

“Thank you. For sticking up for me back there.”

Shao didn’t bother to look up to you. “I trust if that Edenian betrays you, she will be dealt with.”

“Of course.”

“Then I don’t care what you do.”

You finished taking all your jewels off and turned to look at him. He was shirtless and had his boxers on while he lotions his body.

You licked your lips. You tried to fight off all of the thoughts that ran through your head.

But you couldn’t. You were only human.

You walked over to Shao Kahn and stood before him. Shao looked up at you and your eyes meet.

You sit on his lap and kiss all over his neck. Shao Kahn groaned in pleasure. He threw the lotion aside and his hands clung on to your back.

Luckily for you, you had were in your night gown. You rode your nightgown up where your underwear was seen.

You placed your clothed clit onto his thigh and began to go back and forth on him. You moaned out in pleasure.

Shao Kahn licked his lips at the sight and held onto your hips as you rode his thigh. He made sure to help you go back and forth at a steady pace.

You moaned loudly. His thigh was perfect for you to ride. It was big and bold. You didn’t have to do much moving for constant pleasure to hit your clit.

“This is what I like to see.” He told you. His right hand slid on your ass and gave it a grip before smacking it. You moaned. “Keep going until you cum all over my thigh. I want you to make a mess on me.”

You held on tightly. Your arms wrapped around his neck and you focused moving on him up and down. Shao Kahn bounced his thigh slightly so he could meet with your force.

“Oh god, yes.”

Shao Kahn ripped your entire night gown apart and immediately attached his lips on your right breast. You gasped at the feeling of his tongue colliding with your nipple.

You continued moving on him back and forth, closing your eyes in the process. Shao played with your other breast. You clawed at his back and he only groaned in pleasure as a response.

Shao pulled away from your breasts and watched you ride his thigh. Your head was swinging back in pleasure. He brought your chin down and made you look at him in the eyes. “Look at me. I want to watch you fall apart.”

You hesitantly opened your eyes and there Shao Kahn was looking at you, awaiting for you to cum all over his thigh. “It feels so good.” Shao placed his hands on your hips and moved you faster on his thigh. “Oh god. Oh my god.”

“Like this?”

“Yes. Please. Oh my god. I’m so close.” You felt your eyes about to close again but you forced them open knowing he would be mad if you closed them.

The two of you looked in each others eyes as you inched closer to your release. “I’m cumming. Oh Shao please let me cum. Please. Please.”

“That’s right. Cum on me, my Empress. Let it all out.”

You continued to hump on his thigh. He bounced his leg a little to meet you halfway. You clawed on his arm. You were about to throw your head back but he grabbed your chin and forced you to look at him.

“Oh yes. Yes. I’m cumming. I’m cumming.”

Shao Kahn helped you ride your orgasm out as you continued to spit out incoherent sentences. He made you finish completely on his thigh.

You took in a deep breath when you were done. “What did I do to deserve such a gift?” He questioned.

You chuckled slightly. “I just felt like it.” He began to kiss your neck softly and you moaned at his touches. “Stop before I make another bad decision.”

“I like your bad decisions.”

You moaned more when he sucked on your sweet spot but he soon pulled away. He laid you down on the bed. Then he reaches over to turn off the lamp.

The room was dark. He grabbed the blanket and placed it over the two of you. “Tomorrow you will be truly mine.”

Even after all this you still didn’t know if marrying him was the best idea.



#mortal kombat #mortal kombat x reader #mk #mk9 #mortal kombat 9 #mortal kombat 11 #mk11 #mk 11 #mk 9 #mk 11 x reader #mk 9 x reader #mk x reader #mk smut #mortal kombat smut #shao kahn #shao kahn x reader #general shao #mk skarlet #Mileena #liu kang #kung lao #raiden #Shang Tsung #mk reiko #mk tanya

[nixie-writes]

Growing up with Stolas would include:

I want to do a series on things like this so if you have a suggestion write it in the notes or send a request!

-he would immediately show you his books, like his book on the differences between frogs and toads and his books on plants and herbs. He would describe his books in great detail and let you check out the pictures and even read them if you're into reading.

-he would want to learn your interests and grab books on them. Even the most inane or obscure interests have to have a book on them so he would convince his father to get him several books on them, claiming they're for his studies.

-if you knew him before his birthday where he learned his duty as a Goetia he would have definitely played with his stuffed animals with you, he has so many. They all have names too, really silly names like Hairy Barry and Sargent Teddy. He was a creative child who was never lacking ideas.

-being his friend after he learned of his engagement with Stella would be hard. He would be depressed for a little while, upset that he had no choice in who he married. You would likely be upset as well, sharing his feelings. But with time he would come to terms with it and be willing to get to know her.

-Stella was a nightmare for a child. She was stingy, demanding and crude. Her older brother, Andrealphus, only encouraged this behavior, giving her whatever she wanted. Stolas clearly didn't like her but, seeing as they were already engaged, he had to learn to like her. Which was no easy feat.

-Growing up Stolas would overindulge in his books as a coping mechanism for his arranged marriage. You tried your best to comfort him but there was no way to fix this problem. You tried to get to know Stella better to try and find some positives about her but getting to know her only made you dislike her more. You genuinely felt bad for Stolas.

-At the marriage you toasted a happy marriage for Stolas and Stella but you already knew this marriage was doomed. Stolas looked miserable at the reception while Paimon talked on and on about the many embarrassing things that happened during Stolas' childhood. You tried to comfort him during the reception but he wasn't easily comforted with Stella drinking her heart out and dancing like a harlot.

-you were there for Stolas during the first few years of his marriage with Stella, even attending his secret psychiatrist's appointments in the Sloth ring with him. He started taking anti-depressants and focusing more and more on his grimoire. It seemed like an escape for him.

-when Octavia was born you'd never seen him happier. He was so proud that he had a hand in making such a perfect little creature and you were so happy for him. You gifted her a stuffed animal to keep as a companion, similar to the imp doll Stolas had as a child.

-after Octavia was born Stella began drinking more at night, throwing more parties and inviting Goetias. She would get smashed and talk shit about Stolas, earning his further dislike of her. You were unaware of his affair with Blitzo the night before he declared a divorce but you weren't surprised, you had been waiting for one of them to cave.

-it took many years and many fights where Stella got physical for Stolas to finally give in and force the divorce onto Stella. He confided in you that it was something he didn't want to do but had to. She was violent, impulsive and insulted and tormented him on a daily basis, and it was affecting Via. She was 17 and had no idea what a normal family was like.

-when he forced her into the divorce she went along with it begrudgingly, dragging Andrealphus into the fray to demand Stella be given more of the Goetia riches. You knew she was a gold digger but this was a new low, even for her. This was a private matter and she brought her brother into this to bullshit her way into gaining more from the divorce.

-after Striker's attempt on his life no one but you visited him in the hospital for the few days he was there. You visited him daily with some flowers and books you loaned from the library. Just things to keep him busy. It was while he was in the hospital, drugged up on Morphine, that he admitted to his affair with Blitzo. He told you how it started, how it progressed from easy sex to developing feelings and how he felt about Blitzo, how he wanted to be with Blitzo despite the classism of Hell. You supported him for his feelings for Blitzo and made a point to meet the imp someday.

-after Stolas got out of the hospital you encouraged him to speak to Asmodeus about getting Blitzo an Asmodean crystal. You had learned about Blitzo's work and wanted to give ideas to help the imp carry out his job, regardless of if you thought it was ethical or not. You let Stolas go by himself, sure that Asmodeus would be more willing to give a crystal if it was just Stolas. A few days later Stolas received one and planned to give it to Blitzo. You would help him plan out how best to give it to the imp, and the rest would be seen.

#helluva boss x reader #helluva boss #stolas x reader #stolas

[violetlunette]

Something I really like about Silver is that no matter what the situation, he’ll always do what he truly believes to be right, no matter what may happen next.

Twst Spoilers

*Playland Event

*Glorious Masquerade

*Book 7

Notes:

*Overthinking and rambling

Two examples of Silver’s “fuck it, I’ll do what’s right” are in the Endless Halloween Event and in Chapter/book 7.

Lilia and Malleus are two of the most beloved people to him, they’re literally everything to him along with Sebek. Yet when they screw up he firmly tells them such.

He pointed out that in the Halloween Event that, while the two wanted to do something nice for everyone, the way they went about it was wrong as students could have gotten hurt.

In Chapter 7, Silver understands that Malleus wants to make everyone happy and not lose Lilia. However, he still calls Malleus out for trapping everyone against their will and is even willing to fight his master, despite owing the other for helping to raise him and the fact Malleus turns on him after this. Why? Because what Malleus is doing is wrong and he’s hurting people.

Silver is extremely empathetic; he does his best to understand others and why they do what they do. However, he does so without discarding the actions they do and the effects on others.

This is one of the reasons I wanted to see him in the Playland event as I want to see how he would react to someone he isn’t emotionally connected to doing severe harm.

Fellow and Gidel are human traffickers and are fully aware of what they’re doing, and the harm they cause and don’t care.

Kalim, who shares Silver’s good heart, wants to understand why Fellow is doing what he is, and try to reach a peaceful resolution. (Though in this case, I don’t believe he knows there are other victims, so we don’t know how he would react if he knew.)

Ace, on the other hand, focuses solely on the actions of Fellow in the present and the danger he’s inflicting on them and their friends. Therefore, he’s not even willing to consider a peaceful solution.

And the rest—as soon as they’re not in danger, they don’t give a fuck. (I think it’s out of character for Floyd and Jade who I believe would seek revenge, but I digress. It’s fairly in-character for the rest of them.)

I wonder how Silver would react in that situation—provided he was written in character. (And KNEW there were past victims.)

In the Masquerade event, he seems to let Rollo slide, but in that case he was handled by Malleus and when everything was fixed there was no lasting damage. Everyone was tired but recovered, so while there was fowl, there was no harm.

In Fellow and Gidel’s case, it’s different; there are victims, there is harm, lasting harm. People are still out there, trapped within their bodies, screaming for help that will never come while the ones that loved them are doomed to mourn forever.

Going to what Silver might do if he were at Playland, I think he would be in the middle ground between Ace and Kalim. Like Kalim, he’d want to understand and negotiate peacefully, however, he wouldn’t just ignore Fellow’s actions, past or present.

Silver’s an empathetic person. While he might empathize with how hopeless Fellow must have felt to fall with this point, he would also feel for the people who were hurt.

I know he’d call Fellow out and lay out what was wrong, but what about after? Would Silver’s words reach Fellow and make him feel guilty? Or would he just shrug it off and fight Silver till the boy was a puppet? And what after, assuming everyone made it out? Would Silver just let them go, or hand them over to the authorities?

Most likely, he would turn to Lilia who would tell him to let them go, or let them go himself if the two showed genuine remorse. See, as noble as Silver is, he isn’t a seeker of justice. His desire is to protect, not smite evil.

So, to wrap up, I like the noble side of Silver and am glad we get to see it whenever he takes the stage. Personally, I want to see that spirit of his challenged more by facing those with actual dark intentions where HE has to make a choice of how to handle them.

#twst #twisted wonderland #silver twst #twst silver #mine #silver twisted wonderland #silver vanrouge #twisted wonderland silver #twst diasomnia #lilia vanrouge #malleus draconia #twst malleus #twisted wonderland malleus #playland event #fun at playland #twst spoilers #twst book 7 #twst wonderland #glorious masquerade #over thinking #I didn't know how to essay this but I wanted to point this out

[davekat-sucks]

If there's one thing i don't like about this fandom it's how much they make the kids more meaner? Villainizing? Than they actually are. Don't get me wrong, they have done a lot of bad but like these characters are FRIENDS. They do genuinely care about eachother in the end they aren't cold hearted and revel in other's suffering, they aren't Caliborn or Vriska afterall. I think they read the comic wrong, the kids were willing to sacrifice their own lives for eachother, a prime example of this was Daves conversation with doomed Rose. I blame the spaceship meteor part of the story for ruining the characters. Like everyone acted so ooc? Why were Jade and Davesprite giving John such a hard time about his dad die dying? Both of them literally had to watch their guardians die in front of them, you'd think they'd be the most sympathetic here? Or how Dave and Karkat, characters who will go through lengths to protect their friends just fucking stand there as everyone else tears themselves or eachother apart? Karkat is an ass yes but this was the same guy who was crying his heart out when he saw Solluxs dead body when in game or how he told Aradia bot that he would've tried to get her back to life if it weren't for other circumstances. Why was everyone being so uncaring at this part? It didn't feel right. The alpha kids got it the WORST, from bad writing to fandom treatment. I remember back in the day seeing stuff where Dirk was just down right mean to Jane "hahaha sucks to be you Jake is mine fat bitch". There was even a little bit of this aggressiveness in House of Dirk, now i do find that story fun but the small part where he calls Jane "xenophobic", bothered me. Like he would NOT say that to her. Have you seen how he speaks to her? "If you ever need help, Jane. If you're ever in any trouble at all. Let me know. Just say the word." Same guy who built a robot to protect her life and pretty much wrote an entire book for her, i think Dirk cares about Jane guys. This fandom and comic is so mean to Jane, as funny as i thought it was that Caliborn called her a fat fucking pig and cow, she really just became a punching box at that point. They'll shit on her because she's a woman getting in the way of the gay men. The ONLY thing people get from her as a character is that she's fat, because Caliborn said so along with a bunch of other things. Jake, poor Jake, gets sexualized by everyone he knows and had to burn his Grandmothers body right in front of him. But according to fans HE'S the asshole here because he cant communicate properly. Gee i wonder why. Roxy gets put on a fucking pedestal by the comic and fans, super extra special treatment. Ignore how she sexually harasses Dirk or almost killed Jane, no she's incapable of doing wrong, isn't that right Calliope? Yes, Roxy should be the new leader AND kill the Condescension yes. Now i never finished reading the epilogues because why would i? I'm probably missing a lot if we're taking them into consideration but not taking it into consideration because my point still stands because thats how the fandom treated them even before those came out. And even when talking about the base comic i still see those attitudes.

These characters DO have their personal problems but when people talk about they insert angst where it doesn't exist for favor of projection and i hate how common its become.

If people claim it is just cynicism that comes with growing up, there's clearly a difference between being cynicism, nihilism, and being a straight up asshole. If people say it is Dave and Karkat's depression is the reason why they stand around doing nothing as Rose becomes alcoholic and Terezi gets abused by Gamzee, it's sure strange they got over their depression right as VRISKA comes in to solve everything and those two bastards act like nothing had happened. Everything by Act 6 and Post Retcon just made all the characters worse. They have become an empty shell of who they used to be. The bleak outlook has become a theme for current Homestuck. It's been like this for Epilogues and Homestuck^2 too. I don't know if James Roach and HICU can really save the franchise and get out of all the characters having this negative light. Andrew Hussie and WhatPumpkin has shoved this jaded feeling right in the audience's faces that it's become the norm to expect the worse. Readers expect characters being assholes and more depression, they will receive it because Hussie and WhatPumpkin made it so.

#Homestuck #Homestuck fandom #Post Retcon #Act 6 #Andrew Hussie #WhatPumpkin #What Pumpkin #WP #James Roach #HICU #Homestuck Independent Creative Union #Homestuck Epilogues #Homestuck2 #HS2 #Homestuck^2 #Homestuck 2 #HS^2 #Homestuck Beyond Canon

[eggsaladstain]

I just love the way you write, so gonna pick your brain here: why do you think people are so drawn to Darklina? Is it the tragedy of it? The gothic aspect to it? The darkness (funnily enough) of it? Or is it just the chemistry between the actors? Thoughts?

hi anon, thanks for reading and thanks for the ask! i've been sitting on this for a bit because i don't really ship darklina and thus don't have many thoughts about them but then once i started thinking about them i couldn't stop so here we are.

i can't speak for anyone else but for me personally what i love about this pairing is the tension and symbolism and the epic two-halves-of-a-whole vibe they've got going on and there are also some interesting parallels between darklina and kanej, so despite not actively shipping it, i genuinely think it's one of the most interesting ships in the entire grishaverse and certainly the most complex and complicated relationship alina has.

i'll talk about both the books and the show because i think they each do a good job showing different aspects of their relationship, and i actually kind of think you need to take the books and show together to get the complete picture of this compelling if ultimately doomed ship.

please know, anon, that when i opened this ask, i had planned on a pretty short answer and then i ended up writing 2k words about this because yes, apparently i do have thoughts and yes, that is a threat.

let's dive in.

at its core, darklina is about the attraction and balance between opposites. he summons shadows, she summons light, they're two sides of the same coin, they're made for each other! but then we find out that the darkling is actually manipulating alina, that he's the one who created the fold, that he's her enemy, and instead of sinking the ship, it actually makes it even better because you get that added tension and forbidden attraction between good and evil, between the hero and villain.

in the books, their relationship goes from romantic to adversarial to the mutual understanding that they have a connection to each other that they will never have with anyone else. for all its faults (and there are many), the original trilogy does a fantastic job fleshing out alina's relationship with the darkling and showing the love, the animosity, and above all else, the undeniable pull between them. we really get a sense of alina's acute loneliness and desire to belong somewhere, not just before she discovers her powers, but even after she comes into her power and learns that despite her new tribe with the grisha, she's still different, she's still ultimately alone. it's no wonder then that she would be so drawn to the darkling, who understands her loneliness, who gives her the attention she craves, who looks at her like she is something special. even after she finds out the truth about him, she continues to reach for him through their tether because despite the manipulation and lies, he is still the only one who truly understands the weight that she carries, he is still the only one who truly sees and embraces the darkness within her. he's her mirror image, reflecting not only her capacity for good and her desire to save ravka, but also showing her her darkest desires and instincts.

their relationship doesn't have nearly as much nuance in the show, and i get it, they only had a limited number of episodes, but the decision to turn darklina into a one-sided obsession on the darkling's part in season 2 was a big misstep in my opinion. in the books, their relationship is built on a mutual longing between both of them and even when alina finally kills him, she still grieves for him, says his name, and sees him through his final moments so he's not alone at the end. i've written before how much i love the subversive ending of ruin and rising and i especially love the closure we get in the relationship between alina and the darkling. it's a pyrrhic victory, not a triumphant one, and the darkling's death is very much a loss for alina. she does not kill him because of vengeance or to save the world, she kills him as a mercy, to put an end to his relentless suffering. the final book also acknowledges, crucially, that while the evil is ultimately defeated, this evil was not some monster or demon but a flesh and blood man, a boy.

in the books, alina is in her late teens and while the darkling is centuries old, he looks to be only a few years older than her. i understand why they chose to age up the characters on the show and ben barnes is fantastic as the darkling, but the fact that they were visibly closer in age in the original trilogy means there was less of an overt power imbalance between them because while the darkling was still the leader of the second army, he was also a bit more approachable due to his appearance of youth. not only that, their relationship in the books has an innocence that it doesn't really have in the show because a 17 year old girl being friendly and flirting with a 20 year old boy is fundamentally different from a 25 year old woman pursuing a relationship with a 39 year old man.

a younger darkling is also SO much more tragic, especially since his entire character can be summed up in this absolute banger of a quote from ruin and rising: in this moment he was just a boy - brilliant, blessed with too much power, burdened by eternity. the tragedy of the darkling is that he was forced to bear the burden of his power and persecution when he was just a boy and he had to continue bearing that burden for centuries, and it's so much more tragic to see a life cut short at 20 vs 40 because of that innocence that we associate with youth, even if that youth is an illusion and even (and especially) if that innocence is a lie. the tragedy of the darkling is that he had so much power but at his core, he was just a lost, lonely boy, and it makes him a much better foil for alina because, had she not lost her power in the books, she may have gone down the same path and that quote could have just as easily applied to her.

now, having said all this, the show, for all it faults (and there are also many), does a much better job (more so in season 1) of humanizing the darkling. part of that is just due to the books being written in alina's POV, meaning we never really know how the darkling actually feels, so being able to see the darkling's actions and motivations through a more objective perspective in the show goes a long way in fleshing out his character. the other part is, of course, ben barnes and the way he highlighted the tragedy in the darkling's story and tried his best to elevate the character above a typical villain, despite the season 2 script doing him no favors. in the books, we only see the darkling through alina's lens so we don't ever truly know how he actually feels about her, but the show makes it very clear that the darkling's feelings for alina are real. maybe it starts out as manipulation, but the power imbalance between them very quickly turns in her favor as it becomes clear that he needs her, desperately, in a way that she doesn't really need him. alina may have felt lonely for 20-some years of her life, but for the darkling, it's been centuries. it's centuries of loss and persecution that have made him who he is, and it's no wonder then that he would be drawn to alina, a literal light in the darkness, and see her as his salvation.

as i mentioned earlier, the show makes their relationship much more one-sided with the darkling refusing to let alina go, even after she hurts him, even as she hates him. in their final confrontation after the fold, he knows she is there to kill him, but when his nichevo'ya has her by the throat, he tries frantically to stop it because in spite of everything he's done, all the atrocities he's committed, the one thing he will never do is kill her. he certainly doesn't deserve a pat on the back for this and his behavior towards her is objectively bad and creepy, but it also shows just how all-consuming his desperation is. after centuries of searching, he has finally found someone who is like him, and he cannot bring himself to give her up, no matter the cost to himself, no matter the cost to her. it's incredibly selfish, but it's also achingly human.

in the books, we don't really see this desperation until the end of ruin and rising when alina loses her power and the darkling realizes that he is now truly alone, that he has no longer has an equal, and alina herself realizes that his pain will be endless. in the show, we see this theme - his desire and his need for her - woven throughout his interactions with alina from the very beginning, culminating with her death at his hands, albeit under very different circumstances than the book.

this is why i say that the books and show complement each other when it comes to darklina - with the books, you see how alina was drawn to the darkling and how she genuinely cared for him in spite of everything, and in the show, you see how the darkling was drawn to alina and how desperate he was to save her from following in his footsteps.

there's even a set of complementary quotes that perfectly encapsulate why this ship is so compelling and why it's so doomed.

in ruin and rising, you have the darkling saying you might make me a better man and alina answering and you might make me a monster.

and in 2x08, you have the darkling saying let me be your monster. let me carry the hatred of this world. who will be there to save you? and alina answering, i will save myself.

the allure of darklina is that it's about finding the one person who makes you feel less alone, the one person who can save you and destroy you in equal measure, the one person who sees and accepts you as you are, even the worst parts of you.

the tragedy of darklina lies with the darkling, because he is driven by pain and loss and the desire to escape both of those things. this is a man who will never allow himself to love someone more than he fears the pain of losing them, and he only allows himself to love alina because he believes he will never lose her to the ravages of time, he only allows himself to love her because he thinks he will be safe from pain with her. now compare him to sankta neyar, another character who has also lived and lost for centuries. as i previously wrote about here, the darkling views love as a weakness while neyar views it as a strength, and it is because of this (and, you know, the atrocities) that he ultimately loses alina. and despite how much alina resists him, the darkling is unable to let her go, unable to stop himself from trying to save her, even when she makes it clear that she does not want or need him to do so. the tragedy of darklina is that this is the only way he knows how to love her.

now, let's look at kanej, which has more than a few similarities with darklina. much like the darkling and alina, kaz and inej also have twin traumas, they also understand each other in a way that no one else does, they have also seen and accepted the worst parts of each other. like calls to like applies to them just as much, and even the r&r quote fits them perfectly as inej does make kaz a better man and kaz does make inej a monster. in six of crows, kaz tells oomen, who stabbed inej, my wraith would counsel mercy but thanks to you, she’s not here to plead your case and in 2x08, we see kaz offering to buy out kesh and any other indentures after inej asked him to consider it in 1x01 (gifset here). and it's kaz who teaches inej to kill, who gives her the tools she needs to survive in the barrel, culminating in her vicious threat to pekka rollins at the end of crooked kingdom and her declaration that they destroy him in 2x03 when she finds out pekka killed kaz's brother.

kanej is such a great foil for darklina because where darklina said you might make me a better man and you might make me a monster, kanej said we will make each other better, and we will be monsters together. kaz and inej each put in the effort to overcome their respective traumas in order to be together and they each do violent, unsavory things in order to protect the other, and despite the fact that both crooked kingdom and 2x08 end with inej leaving, it's clear that the two of them will find their way back to each other in time.

alina doesn't end up making the darkling a better man, though on the show, she does become a monster, for mal by using merzost to bring him back, and for ravka, by using the shadow cut to kill the fjerdan spy. it's a really fitting evolution of her character on the show and the natural progression of her relationship with the darkling, that she would defeat him only to become him in the end.

as i said at the top of this, i don't actively ship darklina, but i am fascinated by the tension and complexity of their relationship and i love how the book canon and show canon build on each other to give us a complete picture of these two individuals who are so similar yet so different at the same time. they're parallel lines who will never cross. they're the sun and moon who can never share the same sky. they're the perfect tragedy.

#darklina #darklina meta #kanej #kanej meta #shadow and bone meta #sab meta #shadow and bone #grishaverse #the darkling #alina starkov #kaz brekker #inej ghafa #sab season 2 #ruin and rising #six of crows #crooked kingdom #meta #answer

[invested-in-your-future]

Ironwood should have never been the villain

Hot take but I disagree.

I think Ironwood is perfect antagonist to showcase how fallible and flawed humanity can be. He is well meaning and he genuinely believes in his mission and goals and the idea of Greater Good. But he's also someone who grew up in post-world-war times in a country that's 100% was the bad guy before and is in quite a fickle state. Its no wonder he would strive to be better and desperately try to prove himself, even at the cost of his own wellbeing (oh look the theme of self sacrifice again and the toxic notion of "heroism" based upon society's expectations). Writing him as rigid by-the-book General that is willing to do whatever is necessary to keep the fragile peace going makes 100% sense. But inability to change and improvise should also be his flaw - while Ironwood sees threats that Ozpin is blind to, Ironwood genuinely does not realize the consequences and issues Ozpin sees in him.

I am of opinion that he was always intended to eventually "cross the line" and do something genuinely bad out of desperation and circumstance. The type of person that, when situation goes completely out of his control, would end up with him making decisions that are hard or impossible to come back from. A tragic case of a good intentions leading to worst decisions. A case study of human nature and the effect division, desperation and self destructive impulses can have upon it. And a thematic allusion of the real world's tendency to abandon war veterans and soldiers to their personal hell with no regard for their mental or physical wellbeing, after their country exploited them to the ultimate limit.

The issue however, just like with pretty much EVERYTHING in the show, is absolutely ZERO ACTUAL PROGRESSION. Its true for character relationships - Yang and Blake never actually getting to solve the issues that have been brewing since V3. Its true for characterization - Yang, Blake, Ruby, Weiss - all of them basically were given less than breadcrumbs so far rather than proper character writing - it took YEARS to acknowledge that Ruby might be traumatized and even that ended up with writing off trauma and character progression as NOT NEEDED "YOU ARE FLAWLESS" nonsense and Yang still has pretty much ZERO development in terms of her trauma (And Blake literally exists only as character design). It extends to the world itself too - time in Remnant only seems to move when there's a screentime given to a location - Come Volume 20, Glynda will still be vaguely standing around Vale and Mistral will still be exactly identical place as the team left it.

So its no surprise that that's true for character alignment too - Summer is either Best Mother Ever or Filthy Dishonest Liar, Raven is either uwusadregrets or Worst Mother Ever How Dare She. Even Salem is not immune to this as she literally has TWO phases of her backstory - "omg caring wife" and "I literally want to murder the entire world out of spite", with the awful flashback episode flipping the switch INSTANTLY between the two states. And that's true for Ironwood - there's no character arc. There's no actual genuine exploration of "road to hell is paved with good intentions", there's no moral conundrum. There's just a flip of the switch as plot demands. Its a Game of Thrones-esque situation where the writers wanted to do specific thing with the character but kind of forgot to do the reasonable build-up, so it just happens. THE BELLLLLLLLLS.

What I think should have happened is that Salem's stupid fortress of DOOM or relics or Cinder or Salem's Evil Troupe of Evil should have never played a role in Fall of Atlas. It should have been ALL Internal. Just Kingdom of Atlas imploding in on itself as consequence of Fall of Beacon and the worsening situation in the world. Make Atlas story arc ALL ABOUT power plays within Atlas, with different people having wildly different ideas on where to actually aim the army at and different characters having different ideas on how to bring back order to destabilized country. Just have the team be stuck in a situation that is few steps away from world war with different ways provided to solve it. In the end, lines are crossed and Atlas falls apart from it's own sense of self-importance, grandeur, paranoia, classism and nationalism and Ironwood, misguided and tragic, falls with the country he sacrificed everything for. The lead cast are left to wonder whether there was any other way to resolve this, but they'll never know. In this situation, willingly or unwillingly, they played the role of being the ones at the center of a Kingdom falling apart. What do they do now? Where do they go from here? Does each of them question actions that led them to this point in time? Do all of them arrive at the same conclusion?

I think to sell this its important to have Salem side to NEVER lift even a finger. The Story of Fall of Atlas is the story of division of humanity and Salem's side already did all they need to do with Beacon for that. Humanity are the ones that, as lyrics go, train their heroes and build their armies, and then with single moment, single event, they turn on each other and burn.

#rwby #rwde

[animebw]

Short Reflection: Pluto

Naoki Urasawa is fascinated with the darkness of childhood imagination.

Admittedly, I've only watched two anime based on his work so far- Madhouse's masterclass adaptation of Monster and now this- so I can't say how common a thread it is in his other stories. But even just from those two, his fixation on twisting childhood into something sinister and unsettling is undeniable. Nursery rhymes and half-remembered country folk songs repurposed as grim omens of doom, picture books foreshadowing real world nightmares, the innocence of his child characters and childlike imagery juxtaposed against a creeping darkness that seems born from the pits of hell itself... the mind of a kid is frequently the most terrifying place to be in Urasawa's work. Whether there's any greater meaning to it or if it's just something he things is cool, I don't know. But it certainly makes him the ideal artist for a story like Pluto. Who else but a guy like him could take one of Japan's most iconic mascots of childhood fun and use his world as the basis of a serious minded political/philosophical thriller that seeks to explore the nature of hatred itself?

Now, as someone who only knows Astro Boy by reputation and has never so much as seen a single episode of any show bearing his name, I can't comment on this story's relation to its source material. Luckily, I don't need to; Pluto is fully stand-alone and you don't need to know a scrap of Astro Boy lore to understand or appreciate it. Although I imagine it would make some of the goofier robot designs a little less immersion-breaking. I dunno, there's something inherently funny about seeing Urasawa's grounded, realistic style of character and world design, his thickly textured and non-exaggerated human faces with realistic proportions and naturalistic wear and tear, next to some of these robots looking like they were pulled straight out of a Saturday morning cartoon. It makes me wonder how certain American cartoons would look if given this treatment. Imagine if someone, like, re-imagined The Powerpuff Girls this way, and you had to see these realistic child versions of Blossom et al next to Mojo Jojo or whatever. Oh well, it would probably be better than that CW show they cancelled, at least.

But I'm getting off track. Pluto is a story about a futuristic sci-fi world where robotics have gotten advanced enough for robots and humans to life side-by-side as part of the same civilization. Every year, it seems, robots and humans are growing closer together, to the point where people are genuinely starting to wonder if there's still any meaningful difference between them. But the seeming peace is shattered by a mysterious attacker, an unknown, unseen killer targeting the seven strongest robots in the world and destroying them one by one. One of these robots, a Europol detective named Gesicht with a robot wife of his own, decides to dedicate himself to tracking this killer down. But as his journey takes him all over the world, meeting countless different robots and humans all with their own bit of commentary to offer on the relationship between man and machine, we slowly peel back the sins this world is built on, uncovering a darkness much greater than a single mysterious killer... and a hatred that may change the nature of robotkind as we know it.

It's a heady, thought-provoking affair, and despite my jokes earlier in the review, it's shockingly good at justifying its bizarre premise. The world feels real and lived-in, from its complex alt-history to its eerily familiar present. It feels like a world that would arise from robots growing increasingly close to humans, and it makes all its musings on the distinction between them genuinely compelling. What would anti-robot bigotry look like in such an accepting time? What things would come naturally to humans that might be impossible for robots, and vice-versa? How would the presence of highly advanced AI effect the political history of warfare and diplomacy? And, most unnervingly, what new atrocities could result from a world this advanced? It's a show that's deeply interested in what ultimately makes us human, and what it would take for an inhuman machine to be considered human as well. But it's also interested in what is already inhuman about us, and if there's anything we, in turn, can learn about our own humanity from a "species" still living just outside it. And while there's plenty of action throughout its run, it's not afraid to take its time on conversations and machinations to really let those ideas settle.

Of course, it's been many years since the manga this was based on was published, and those kinds of "Can a robot learn to feel?" questions have been pretty beaten to death in other media that's come out since then. These days, a story can come off as pretty corny trying to tackle such topis. And truth be told, Pluto can't help but make you roll your eyes with its attempt to explore these ideas a lot of the time. Some of that's due to the oversaturation I just mentioned, but some of that's down to Pluto itself being a very corny show, in ways I don't think it's really aware of. It tends to deliver its story in the most on-the-nose, telegraphed way imaginable.This cranky old musician doesn't think robots can understand art but watch as he learns how to feel again! This robot just wants to paint pictures of flowers but his inner nature as a brutal rage machine is dragging him down! People make promises to their family to see them again right before they're brutally killed! You can see every emotional beat coming miles away but it still expects you to be surprised when it finally arrives there. And considering that the tension of uncertainty is one of the most important parts of any good thriller, it kinda makes it hard to get invested at points.

Sadly, that isn't the only problem holding Pluto back from greatness. Aside from the corny delivery, a lot of plot points feel pretty contrived and stupid, the hand of the author shoving the pieces across the game board with little regard to making sure it feels natural. I also don't think structure this show as eight hour-long Netflix specials was good for the pacing; it means every episode meanders over countless subplots that don't always fit together smoothly and melt into a sludge of Things Happening with little connective tissue to justify putting them together. You can practically see the points where there would be episode breaks if they were a normal 24-minute length, but then they just keep going into what feels like an entirely new episode with no breathing room. So it ends up feeling like a 24 episode show Frankensteined together into a series of bloated triple-length episode booster packs, rather than a story carefully curated to take advantage of its extended episode runtime.

And yet, for all its faults, I found myself getting drawn back in over and over again. Say what you will about Urasawa, the man knows how to keep your eyes glued to the screen. And for all the shows and movies I've seen exploring what it takes for a robot to be human, Pluto's take is still unique and fascinating enough to be worth the watch. It's nowhere near the simple, offensive allegories of, say, Detroit Become Human, nor is it so intellectual that it robs the story of its humanity. It's a genuine attempt to contend with humanity in its entirety, light and darkness alike, and what we may need to sacrifice- or what we might gain- by bringing artificial intelligence over the threshold to join us. It also helps that it looks fantastic; aside from a few moments that just plain look ugly (Atom's first fight with the mysterious killer made my eyes hurt, I swear), the thick lines and fluid animation bring this world to life in stunning fashion. Even outside the impressive action scenes, Pluto is a show worth looking at. Sometimes, that sweet Netflix money hits just right.

Is Pluto a great anime? I'd argue no; it's got too many basic issues holding it back. In my opinion, Monster is a superior Urasawa offering, and I didn't even particularly love that show either. But masterpiece or no, Pluto is a work of remarkable ambition, and it demands your attention regardless of its faults. It's a thoughtful, potent, sometimes frustrating, often eye-rolling, but always compelling work of sci-fi reimagining, proof that even something as simple as a cartoon robot with rockets on its feet can be fertile ground for so much more. And I give Pluto a score of:

6.5/10

And now we wait to see if Netflix struck gold again with its upcoming Scott Pilgrim adaptation. See you next time!

#anime #tabw #the anime binge watcher #pluto anime #pluto #naoki urasawa #fall 2023 anime #fall 2023 sr

[kellyvela]

genuine question where do stark antis get the idea that starks are colonizers/white supremacist. I see that accusation brought up with no proof. So i’m very confused?

Because the First Men fought a war with the Children of the Forest, and antis made up the simile between the First Men as colonizers and Children of the Forest as natives.

I bet they didn't read about the war between the First Men and the Children of the Forest from The World of Ice and Fire. The war lasted hundred of years and the COTF were not defenseless, they fought with magic and as fiercely as the First Men, but at the end, they made peace and the COTF influence was so strong that the First Men adopted the Old Gods religion.

Conquest is a word more related to Valyrians in general and Targaryen in particular.

And the white supremacist accusations came from a GOT Season 8 scene where two northern girls were afraid of Missandei. But this was something from D&D, maybe from Jeyne Poole's reaction in AGOT:

Jeyne Poole confessed herself frightened by the look of Jalabhar Xho, an exile prince from the Summer Isles who wore a cape of green and scarlet feathers over skin as dark as night, but when she saw young Lord Beric Dondarrion, with his hair like red gold and his black shield slashed by lightning, she pronounced herself willing to marry him on the instant.

—A Game of Thrones - Sansa II

But Sansa Stark was different. Let's compare these book scenes about Princes from the Summer Islands:

Sansa Stark, praising Jalabhar Xho's native garments and dancing with him during her forced wedding with Tyrion Lannister:

Jalabhar Xho was all in feathers, a plumage so fantastic and extravagant that he seemed like to take flight. 

—A Clash of Kings - Sansa VIII

Merry Crane took the floor with the exile prince Jalabhar Xho, gorgeous in his feathered finery. 

(...) The music spun them apart before Sansa could think of a reply. It was Mace Tyrell opposite her, red-faced and sweaty, and then Lord Merryweather, and then Prince Tommen. "I want to be married too," said the plump little princeling, who was all of nine. "I'm taller than my uncle!"

"I know you are," said Sansa, before the partners changed again. Ser Kevan told her she was beautiful, Jalabhar Xho said something she did not understand in the Summer Tongue, and Lord Redwyne wished her many fat children and long years of joy. And then the dance brought her face-to-face with Joffrey.

—A Storm of Swords - Sansa III

Daella Targaryen, daughter of King Jaehareys Targaryen:

Once, in the halls of the Red Keep, Daella had encountered a prince from the Summer Isles in his feathered cloak, and squealed in terror. His black skin had made her take him for a demon.

—The Long Reign—Jaehaerys and Alysanne—Policy, Progeny, and Pain, Fire & Blood

Also this:

“Its basic tenet was simple. The Faith of the Seven had been born in the hills of Andalos of old, and had crossed the narrow sea with the Andals. The laws of the Seven, as laid down in sacred text and taught by the septas and septons in obedience to the Father of the Faithful, decreed that brother might not lie with sister, nor father with daughter, nor mother with son, that the fruits of such unions were abominations, loathsome in the eyes of the gods. All this the Exceptionalists affirmed, but with this caveat: the Targaryens were different. Their roots were not in Andalos, but in Valyria of old, where different laws and traditions held sway. A man had only to look at them to know that they were not like other men; their eyes, their hair, their very bearing, all proclaimed their differences. And they flew dragons. They alone of all the men in the world had been given the power to tame those fearsome beasts, once the Doom had come to Valyria.

“One god made us all, Andals and Valyrians and First Men,” Septon Alfyn would proclaim from his litter, “but he did not make us all alike. He made the lion and the aurochs as well, both noble beasts, but certain gifts he gave to one and not the other, and the lion cannot live as an aurochs, nor an aurochs as a lion. For you to bed your sister would be a grievous sin, ser…but you are not the blood of the dragon, no more than I am. What they do is what they have always done, and it is not for us to judge them.”

—A Time of Testing—The Realm Remade - Birth, Death, and Betrayal Under King Jaehaerys I

White supremacists, who?

#anon asks #targies gonna targ

[everyurlithinkofistoolong]

completely genuine question why do you not like solangelo. all your opinions about jason are correct btw

Lololol thanks <333

Let me preface this by saying that if you like sol/angelo that's fine and dandy. I'm not saying that ppl who like it have bad taste or are dumb in any way. So this isn't an attack on anyone, just my personal opinion! Also I'm a jas/ico shipper and I genuinely think they should have been endgame so obviously I'm biased and I admit to that 100%.

In my opinion, there really there isn't anything inherently wrong with sol/angelo, I just think it's boring? Rick has a horrible habit of pairing up literally everyone with a few notable exceptions (Reyna, Thalia, etc). Hell, he paired up Leo with Calypso (which is another ship I dislike). Obviously I exaggerate my dislike for the ship sometimes for comedic effect but really I just feel so apathetic to it.

Rick brings back this side character from pjo to randomly pair Nico up with in the last book of HOO and I just don't see the chemistry really. And the little I've seen of their interactions post HOO it seems like Rick is going for the "Nico is sooo broken but good thing he has a healer sunshine boyfriend now 💓💝!! Light and darkness isn't that cute??"

And I'm just like... Yeah but where is the chemistry. Idk maybe I shouldnt expect too much from a relationship between two 15 year olds but... Jas/ico really had much more going for it in terms of potential. They are complete opposites. They both struggle to find a home/family. They both had expectations placed upon them based on their heritage. They both lost their older sisters in some way. They both had a strong theme of loneliness and isolation, but manifested in different ways. Also Rick has no clue he strongly bi-coded Jason and it would have been so satisfying if we saw both of them come to terms with their sexuality in two different ways that encapsulated how lgbt people are often treated in media. Jason, who started the books with no clear memories/ sense of identity and quickly got into a doomed to fail het relationship literally set up by the goddess of marriage, a commentary on heteronormativity (which was the arc Piper got instead... We could have had wlw mlm solidarity jas/iper guys). Nico, a gay boy from the 1940s, had a one sided crush on straight as a rod Percy... Like man it was all there.

I can't really talk about why I dislike about sol/angelo without going off about the missed potential of jas/ico because really my beef isn't with sol/angelo itself or will sol/ace (I genuinely Do Not Care about him), its mostly with how there could have been so much more to it and there isn't.

But! I genuinely hope sol/angelo shippers get everything they could ever want from the new book! My beef is with Ricky.

#ask #anti sol/angelo #jasico

[captain-ariel-rogers]

I'm wondering...

1)What are the similarities and differences between Araminta and Bruce and Elena and Christian's relationship?

2) Is Travis the oldest or youngest one ? For some reason I though of him as the youngest one idk why 😅

Travis is the youngest one! He is one year younger.

The main difference is that Araminta was the toxic one in their relationship and in the book, Christian is the VERY toxic one. I honestly don’t think they have a similar relationship at all.

I can’t really speak on OMO anymore since it’s been deleted and I kinda forgot alot of the stuff that happened in that story, but Christian and Elena were doomed from the start.

Book spoilers below 👇

Christian and Elena meet in similar circumstances. She’s walking home one night by herself and gets cornered in an alley by some thugs.

Christian hears her crying out for help at the exact moment he was getting ready to commit suicide. He takes it as some sort of divine intervention and latches onto Elena because he believes with his entire soul that she’s his guardian angel. He absolutely refuses to let her go and essentially forces her to fall in love with Christian whilst terrorizing her as the Silencer. They do bond, and she does learn to trust the Silencer when she realizes he’s not out to hurt her, but once Christian comes clean, she’s distraught, immediately leaves him and races to the police station to tell the cops who he is. She never makes it there, because she’s kidnapped by some other characters in the story.

Elena does not fall in love with Christian nearly as quickly as he does for her. She doesn’t admit that she loves him until a few chapters into the second act, and by that point, she’s fully aware that she has Stockholm Syndrome but when she tries to leave him again at the beginning of the second act, he makes a very manipulative threat towards her to force her to stay.

I’d like to point out that Christian is a cinnamon roll and loves Elena more than anything and genuinely will do anything to make her happy, but his Silencer alter ego is constantly getting in the way, because both sides of him are so afraid of losing her. The Silencer takes the reins hardcore in the third act, and by that point, Elena is full on delusional about her relationship and sees almost nothing wrong about it.

To be honest, Christian is the real victim in the story. He just wanted a reason to live. He found it, and it gets ripped away because of his fear of living without her. I mean, everyone has a tragic ending in the book, but I feel the worst for him.

#tw: suicide

[serpenteve]

Last two questions i’m sorry, i hope i’m not bothering you

What do you think Aleksander would have done if at the start of them kinda circling each other or just early on she was like “you only like me because i’m the sun summoner and also immortal”? Would he even be self aware enough to seperate the difference between that and his feelings for her?

Also i keep seeing people saying that he just…never would have been able to be with her in a healthy way no matter what happened because time had just ruined his ability to relate to people, even potentially alina, in any way that they would have worked. I’m of the mind that everything would have worked out had bAgHrA not ruined everything. Book darkles maybe but show aleksander seemed like they could have really had a shot

Not at all! I love getting asks and speculating about things lol

I think answering both these questions depends a lot on your interpretations of the characters. I think the reason why there are so many different theories and interpretations of Alina and Aleksander (as well as other characters, tbh) is because neither are written consistently. At least with the Darkling you can say that he's the villain or that he plays his motives close to the chest to keep you guessing. But Alina is written pretty poorly and seems to only come to certain conclusions or take certain actions because the author needed her to do so for the sake of the plot. Very few of her actions and thoughts come across as an organic expression of her character---whoever her character is supposed to be.

That said, here's my personal take:

I don't think Aleksander could have separate out his feelings at the start because he's spent his entire 500+ year life being the only Grisha of his kind. As a summoner, it would have been very isolating as he mentions summoners usually work in pairs. Also, it's possible he lived most that life assuming he was alone and the myth of a Sun Summoner was just that---a myth. So when he discovered Alina, I really do think he had to radically rethink his entire life plan, his identity, his purpose, the meaning of all his centuries of being alone, etc. Like,,,,,,he really put all his eggs in the Alina-Is-My-Soulmate-And-We're-Gonna-Change-the-World basket ☠️

He was pretty distressed when she lost her powers at the end of R&R because I think it pretty much doomed him to an eternity of being alone.

However, with whatever crumbs we get in Rule of Wolves, it seems like even though Alina is no longer Grisha, he still feels attached and drawn to her because of how she challenged and bested him. I think meeting Alina made him feel something he had long forgotten: being human and being vulnerable and feeling like maybe there was someone in the world who could understand him, however brief that was.

I think he genuinely tried to see Alina as a useful human lightbulb in his geopolitical plans but then he caught feelings and those feelings caught him by surprise.

Being immortal and being hunted for so many centuries probably did erode his humanity over time and ruin his ability to relate to people. However, I like to think his love for Alina could sneak up on him when he least expected it. We never really saw them in an actual relationship with Alina in the books so it's kind of all speculation and fanfic at this point but I do I think they'd have reached a more equal partnership if the story was stretched out to be over hundreds of years where both characters can grow and change and influence each other along the way.

I could also see that happening within the text of Shadow & Bone had different writing choices been made and Alina being a different kind of character.

#viv answers #alina really is written so badly it hurts #its just surprising in a story where you have a 1st person POV and the worst written character is the damn narrator

[dauntingday]

RONAN LYNCH IN A TIME LOOP SAY MORE AT ONCE (but only if you want to no pressure the all caps is just my enthusiasm and also my brain being broken by those tags and that concept)

apologies in advance for what this turned into <3

so for context of me personally i absolutely adore a timeloop au in any context in general like there is something so funky so fresh about the whole idea of a guy getting worn down by time while everyone around him is experiencing something for the first time?? to be so jaded but still have to wait for the other people to go through surprise/shock at something that's already gotten old for the guy who's seen it more times than they can count????

so that's already delicious but Most Specifically i am a fan of the version of the time loop that is "a guy who has to go back and re-do the worst thing that ever happened over and over until they fix it" both from the perspective of (a) the lingering doubt of no matter what they change does it ever actually make a difference? is there anything that could be done that would Matter enough or is fate always going to lead them to the same place and we are doomed to repeat our mistakes ect ect but also (b) the thing about the worst thing that ever happened to a guy is that uhhh it sucks? like having to relive any period of time repeatedly is already concerning but when it's a moment that fundamentally defined the subsequent period of life ? to have so much urgency but still be repeatedly brought back to square one !!! and to have to see that worst thing over and over and knowing they failed !!!!!!!!!!!! terrible !!!!!

and if that wasn't already a bucket of laughs the most very absolute worst part is always when the person has to waste so much of their very limited time the loop resets and then they're all alone again??? to not have one person in the entire world who understands what they're going through and to have any progress they've made immediately get undone, but to do it all again anyways because fuck what other choice is there ??

all of this to say. ronan lynch. bc i'm not sure if you noticed by now but these freaks are literally all ride or die for each other from MINUTE ONE like ronan walked up and said hey i pulled this bird out of my dreams and no one blinked? like mild spoiler the third book and holy fuck especially the fourth one really lean into the?? fantasy side of things?? kind of?? (it will make sense in retrospect i promise) but never not one single page are any of these books about them not believing each other. there is an inherent irrevocable acceptance that when one of them has A Problem it is Their Problem and that's part of the reason they are soooo <333333

but yeah you'd damn better believe if ronan sat down and told those freaks this was his 18th wednesday in a row they would believe him without question or cause there would be none of that wasting time on that stupid trope of "ronan knowing everything the other person's about to say and that's why they believe him" nonsense. they are his family and they are fundamentally there for one another when it matters. when it doesn't matter. everything in between.

so ronan's time loop is just immediately about the finding solutions part??? about gansey sneaking Meaningful Glances at adam across the table because they both know ronan's more unhinged about this than he's letting on. maybe blue convinces them to go to fox way to ask maura and calla and persephone to read his future and the first time blue has ever seen those women look Genuinely Scared is when they have to tell him point blank that they don't see one. not that it's blurry or that the signs are unclear but that ronan lynch fundamentally does not have anything other than the Now.

ronan lynch the dreamer the dreamed afraid to go to sleep not because of what he can do when he dreams but because this time being awake is the scary part??? because he doesn't know where or when he'll be when he wakes up???? to have something so. core to who he is. be so fractured. and his family not really being able to help but being so willing to try anyway????

anyways sorry i didn't realize i had so many thoughts about this hi tldr i wanna humble that maniac sooooo bad

#and yes that version of the time loop idea that i am talking about is ONE MILLION percent what winter did to the 141 <3 #their impact is UNMATCHED #i say freaks affectionately btw #i see ppl on here call them the gangsey and i refuse to do that even in my head because it's ridiculous #but objectively it is a great name

[agroveinthesavagegarden]

I can’t stop thinking about the Those Who Must Be Kept mention.

(This is a bunch of book-based speculation. Obviously the show may completely change all this. However so far everything they’ve hinted at about Lestat’s backstory is pretty book consistent, so it doesn’t seem totally unlikely that they’ll keep the basics somewhat the same)

So at this point Louis, Lestat and Claudia are all running multiple performances at once; act like everything is normal, act like you’re on board with all the plans you’re supposed to be on board with (unless acting like you’re not on board sells it better), act like you don’t know anything about all the plans you’re not supposed to know about. Every interaction between them is extremely calculated.

So to let THAT slip? One of the biggest secrets of all the secrets he’s keeping? The secret that will doom to death anyone he shares it with? The secret that his willingness to keep for this long is pretty much the only rule he’s ever consistently followed in his life?

Lestat knows Louis and Claudia both see his refusal to share knowledge as a way to hold power over them (which it definitely is!) but this particular secret is, more than any of the other things he keeps back, genuinely about protecting them. In the book, Marius (derogatory) told him unequivocally that he would absolutely kill anyone who has this knowledge and that is an extremely real and credible threat. Not to mention that the knowledge ultimately proved meaningless and painful to Lestat. It doesn’t illuminate anything. He really believes it won’t help Louis or Claudia with the questions they’re wrestling with, because it didn’t help him.

Name-dropping TWMBK now, when everything’s broken and falling apart, could just be standard Lestat fuckery. Mr. Negative attention is still attention, dangling forbidden knowledge and begging someone to ask about it. Maybe he’s only trying to find another string to tie them to him, upping the stakes on the “you still need me, I haven’t taught you all you need to know yet” game.

But also, his general reaction to having Big Feelings is “what is the most fucked up dangerous thing I could do at this point in time?” so he could be thinking ‘mmm I haven’t pissed off any super powerful ancient vampires in several decades I wonder what would happen if I did?At least I’d have a different problem.’ Maybe he’s imagining making the same deal with Marius he later makes with Armand (execute Claudia, spare Louis).

And of course he also has to be thinking about how he lost Nicki, how Nicki told him he hated him for withholding secret knowledge. How when he finally did give Nicki everything, it was too late to save him.

#amc iwtv

[fremedon]

Brickclub 4.12.7, “The Man Recruited in the Rue Des Billettes,” and 4.12.8, “Several Question Marks Over One Le Cabuc Whose Name May Not Have Been Le Cabuc”

I’m going to take these together; most of what I would have to say about them individually @everyonewasabird has already said.

When Gavroche sees Javert come in, and takes a long time and a lot of open staring to be certain he’s identifed him correctly, Javert doesn’t notice: “Anyone watching the man up to that moment would have seen him observing the barricade and the band of insurgents, all with close attention. But since entering the room he had fallen into a reflection of sorts and seemed no longer to notice anything going on around him.”

Clearly, something has spooked him already. What has he just seen?

I think Bird has it right: Javert has to have just seen Le Cabuc; his initial report is the only possible source for the “police legend” about Le Cabuc’s identity we get in 4.12.8. And he’s genuinely distressed at being on the same team with him here.

And his quick surrender--his refusal to lie outright, and his weird pride, even smugness, over that refusal--are his reaction to that: Javert immediately distancing himself from Claqueous in the way that preserves his sense of his own moral lines, but does nothing to stop the harm he is there to do. 

We’ve been talking on Discord about types of honesty in LM. This book is--kind of remarkably, for a piece of 19th century moral fiction--really not the slightest bit bothered by lying. Simplice is a very straightforward illustration of what an ethical person who shares Javert’s attitudes about lying would do, in a situation where telling the truth does over harm: Lie her ass off. And Javert, notably, has enough doubts to ask her a second time! But when she doubles down on the lie he can’t conceive, or allow himself to conceive, that she would actually lie to his face.

But though the book is remarkably positive about lying, it values honesty--most strongly in the characters of Enjolras and Fantine. Enjolras is candid, sincere, forthright, just, despite certainly needing to lie a whole lot about the entire secret society thing! And Fantine, also, is consistently described as candid, sincere, and scorning artifice, and this is almost her tragic flaw: her life would have been so much easier if she’d had any ability at all to lie convincingly--about, for example, being a widow.*

Which means that Javert’s uselessly binary honesty, defined solely as “lying” or “not lying” with no reference to the need or purpose for what’s being said, gets the two most truly honest characters in the story killed: Fantine directly, by saying true things needlessly, when he could have remained silent about them, out of spite and a desire to hurt; and Enjolras indirectly, by remaining silent when he knew about an immediate source of harm that will ultimately doom the barricade, by making sure all those closed doors stay closed.

*There’s also a point to be made about the gendered nature of “honesty”--how being an honest man imposes different requirements than being an honest woman, and how Fantine, the most transparent and rule-abiding person in the book, falls right into the gap between them. But the narrator is insistent that Fantine remains honest on both metrics--that she has an inherent quality of virginity which persists regardless of how much actual sex she has.

This is a good argument that we’re meant to read Fantine as ace (and that Hugo just didn’t have any framework to conceptualize how someone could have sex and not immediately become France’s greatest horndog ever). It aligns her with Enjolras, priest of the Revolution--and puts them both in contrast with Javert, our other priestly character, who is by far the horniest character in the book.

Javert’s honesty is like Javert’s virginity: The product of an extreme repression which refuses to touch or even think about anything that challenges the rules he’s made for himself.

#brickclub #lm 4.12.7 #lm 4.12.8 #also i know i keep saying that everyone in this book is autistic #but wow is everyone in this book autistic

[fantastic4]

the doctor doom comic series has got me feeling an emotion and that is anger

#doctor doom #ff #I. ok first off I haven’t finished it yet but this is making me mad #doom has gone through character development. he’s not as evil as he was before. yet this series has him so unnecessarily evil #like genuinely I see no difference between him and him in books of doom #which. IS HIS ORIGINS. #He has changed SO much over the years and. they’re really gonna sweep everything under the rug huh #infamous iron man huh??? #but slott decides to sweep that under a rug. but at least it’s not that bad. doom isn’t evil. he’s just slightly less good. #he’s misguided. he’s being a hero but on his own terms yeah? #I was mad abt that before bc he was also kind of cruel but ok whatever slott retconn #AND NOW WHAT IS THIS? BOOOOO where’s his character development????????? #if this had come out like 10 years ago I’d be like ‘okay. okay. interesting. #bc I know how much doom has grown since then #NO ???????? Y’all are reversing him through time this is personally killing me 😭 #I love the comics but man when the characters are done dirty... that’s when I have to look at the mcu and hope they fare better in there #Iris speaks #Iris reads doom

[marybeatriceofmodena]

You know, I’ve been thinking today about how Alina doesn’t even really work as a Reluctant Hero, compared her to Frodo to see the key differences (since Frodo is pretty much the Poster Child for the Reluctant Hero), and then I realized... 

You know, I think L/eigh B/ardugo wrote TGT as a very black-and-white fairytale, where Alina is the princess, Mal’s the knight in the shining armor, and the Darkling is basically the dragon, except it doesn’t really work because the worldbuilding requires an approach that’s... a lot more grey? 

The thing is, though, I realized... Alina and Mal are basically meant to be Frodo and Sam. Except that, again... it doesn’t really work. 

Frodo works as a Reluctant Hero, because he makes it clear multiple times that he doesn’t want to carry the Ring. He asks Gandalf to do it for him, he asks Galadriel, he asks Aragorn, and they all refuse, because they are (or are called to be) in a position of power, and while them being in a position of power is presented as good, the One Ring essentially represents the fast, easy way to get to it, which will ultimately corrupt them rather than have them fight their way towards their goal. 

Frodo, meanwhile, is the right person to carry the Ring, because he comes from a humble place and he doesn’t really have any aspirations to become powerful. And while he’s clearly burdened by having to carry the One Ring, and that he makes it clear that he wishes the Ring had never come to him, he still goes on anyway, despite all the hardships he faces, because his ultimate goal is to save the Shire and his friends, and that desire is stronger than any fear or greed he may have. 

Now, J.R.R. Tolkien himself said that he didn’t really see Frodo as THE Hero, and that Sam is the real Hero of the story to him. Which makes sense, given how Sam was based off young men from rural England he met while fighting in World War I. But also, the story makes it very clear that without Sam, who’s arguably the most pure-hearted person in all of Middle-Earth, Frodo would have definitely failed in his task. The reason why he resists the temptation to carry the One Ring is LITERALLY because him protecting and helping Frodo is more important to him. Sam doesn’t give two shits about power. Helping Frodo save the Shire and coming back to everything he’s ever loved is more important to him. 

Both Alina and Frodo are pure-hearted orphans who are given tremendous power: Alina is the Sun Summoner, and Frodo carries the One Ring. In both cases, power is represented as a corruptive force, that makes people go mad with greed. It works in the context of The Lord of the Rings, given how the rings were given to leaders of Elves, Dwarves and Men, and that Sauron created the One Ring to rule over and control all of them. The Grisha, on the other hand, unlike the Ring-bearers, are not in a position of power, given they are essentially victims of Fantastic Racism in pretty much every country. While Ravka treats them slightly better than in Fjerda or Shu Han, it’s still not ideal and it’s something that could be taken away from them at any moment. It would be an entirely different matter if the Grisha were the ones rulling over Ravka and viewing otkazat’sya as lesser, and in that context, Alina being the Sun Summoner would be a very obvious road to her becoming corrupted. 

Frodo refusing to carry the One Ring and asking other people to take that burden from him comes from a place of genuine fear of what the Ring might do to him. In his place, we’d probably all do the same thing. That’s what makes his acceptance of his task all the more admirable. Alina, on the other hand, refuses to be the Sun Summoner and to help her fellow Grisha because that stands in the way of her ending up with Mal. She never gives any sign that she’s truly empathizing with the Grisha’s plight, she tries to run away not once, but twice, and most importantly, she never sees herself as one of them. They are othered, but it matters little to her, because she doesn’t want to be othered herself, because that stands in the way of her running off with a boy. It’s basically the equivalent of Frodo being overcome by fear after seeing the fate of the Shire in Galadriel’s mirror, and just demanding to be sent to the Grey Havens straight away to save his own ass from it all and just leaving the One Ring to whoever wants to deal with it. At that point, it’s not being a Reluctant Hero: it’s being a coward at best, a selfish bastard at worst. 

(And that’s why I don’t really buy her when she tells Aleksander that they could have had it all if he had told her all the truth from the start, because... again, she didn’t seem to care about the Grisha that much and Aleks telling her everything would have actually been a sure way of having her run as fast as possible the other way. I know the story is trying to tell me otherwise and that the plot point I’m supposed to see here is that Alina was willing to do something until she felt betrayed by Aleks, which is... not what was shown here, and it’s especially annoying considering how Alina is a deserter in every sense of the word, and that any army would have court-martialed her for running away.) 

So if Alina is meant to be a pure, selfless heroine, who loses her powers because she also refuses to be greedy... that just falls completely flat, because if anything, she’s as selfish as Frodo is selfless, because all of this really just boils down to her wanting to run off with Mal. 

Now, onto Sam and Mal. Both of them are basically Everymen who are there to help the Hero and keep their feet on the ground. As mentioned earlier, Sam is the one who helps Frodo finish his mission to Mordor, and the story makes it clear Frodo would have failed without him. TGT meanwhile presents Mal as Alina’s “True North”... which could work on paper as Alina’s reminder to temper Aleksander’s efforts and to remind him that in order for Grisha to be viewed as people, it is important for them to also remember that balance and peace between Grisha and otkazat’sya will be essential, so resentment and hatred can be healed between both groups. 

The key difference here is that Sam is completely supportive of Frodo at all times. Even when Frodo sends him away in the film, Sam goes back after him the minute he realizes he’s been tricked by Gollum. He never shames Frodo whenever he falls prey to temptation, he simply reminds him of who he is and what he must fight for, and even when he’s climbing Mount Doom, he still carries Frodo on his back despite being probably completely exhausted, because Frodo’s more exhausted than he is. He completely accepts Frodo as both his friend, the Hobbit from the Shire, and the Ring-bearer he needs to help, even if he might die in the process. 

Mal (in the books, that is) makes it very clear that he does not accept Alina as both the girl he knew and the Sun Summoner. He only wants the girl, and whenever Alina makes steps towards being the Sun Summoner, he basically sulks and yells at her for not paying attention to him. Despite Alina becoming othered in the eyes of the world, he refuses to see her as othered, mostly because it is inconvenient to him rather than because he loves her for who she is. That’s why in the end, people feel like Alina lost her powers in order to be with Mal, because Mal would never accept her in her entirety. Sam, on the other hand, accepts Frodo as both Ring-bearer and Hobbit, because if he didn’t, Frodo would have failed. 

And while they made Mal in the show a lot nicer than his book counterpart, he still doesn’t work as Alina’s “True North”, because he cossets her in her selfishness. He may say he doesn’t care about how Alina is a Grisha in this one, but he also doesn’t consider the implications of it all - which is especially glaring given he’s a soldier himself. Like, look, if you’re going to slap in a racism plotline to make Mal/ina work, you’d think that being half-Shu would give Mal a little awareness that people are going to treat Alina badly for being half-Shu AND a Grisha, and given Alina is the MOTHERFUCKING SUN SUMMONER AND A SAINT, maybe, just maybe he’d tell her: “Heh, it’s kinda lame we’ll just run off and let everyone else in the dust, you know, especially since we could make our lives as well as everyone else’s better?” Seriously, if you’re going to make Mal Alina’s “True North”, have him face her duties and her calling whether she likes it or not, don’t coddle her when she wants to run the other way because she wants to hide under a rock for the rest of her life. 

With all that being said, that leaves us with the Darkling, who... I mean, given his whole schtick is that power corrupts and makes you evil and crazy, I guess that makes him Gollum, but sexy. 

Gollum, but sexy. 

That single expression has been haunting me ever since I started writing the above novel and I fucking hate it. You’re welcome. No one wanted Sexy Gollum. Absolutely no one. Fuck this shyte. See, this is why I want Darkling Redemption. I do not want to live in a world where Gollum is sexy. I need brain bleach. 

Even here it doesn’t even fucking work because Gollum hid in a cave with the Ring with a strategically placed cloth because no one wants to see his crusty ass family jewels anyway, while Aleks worked his ass off to give the Grisha a safe place to live and to at the very least ensure they’re useful enough to not be killed like animals. Like, if you’re going to give the world something that’s gonna definitely not make me sleep tonight like Sexy Gollum, at least do it right. 

#now i have thoroughly traumatized myself :) #anti grishaverse #anti leigh bardugo #anti mal #anti malina #darklina #alarkling #rants and reviews