#little evening devotional

[broomsick]

You are all the beauty in the world, the music of rivers, and the colors of sunrise. You are a jewel to which no treasure compares. 

Beloved son of Óðinn, I pay you tribute and mourn your fate.

Like the trees, stones, and clouds, I weep for you each time spring comes.

Art

#baldr #little evening devotional #again #adoration #heathenry #norse paganism #norse gods #deity work #deities #prayer #prayers #poems #paganism #deity worship #spirituality

[possamble]

hiii everybody are you normal about Falin showing Laios the same little spell that Marcille showed her? are you normal about Falin remembering it fondly enough that it was one of the first things she showed her brother while trying to teach him magic?

#dungeon meshi #marcille donato #falin touden #laios touden #farcille #not really but im going to see it as that anyway #the way falin's love for marcille is always implicit and unspoken drives me insane forreal #marcille doesn't know how much falin loves her but laios does #because falin's always talking about her and thinking about her when she's not actually there and it's just laios seeing all of that #even the audience has to go hunt for it in the little details #and marcille doesn't even know!! of course she doesn't really care she expects nothing in return for her devotion to falin #but she doesn't even know that it's reciprocated!! she doesn't even know!!

[5-pounds-of-carrots]

*san lang has entered the chat*

#xie lian #mxtx #hualian #hua cheng #San lang #tgcf #incorrect tgcf #insane and incredibly devoted is in fact Exactly how I would describe hua chengs crush #not at all a secret #not even a little

[twentyfivemiceinatrenchcoat]

satoru is a puppydog who pretends to be a big bad wolf and suguru is a wolf pretending to be a domesticated dog, hiding his claws and the snap of his jaw (doctors come in and start pulling me away)

#IM SO RIGHT THOUGH #gojo is just a puppy he makes himself seem bigger and badder but he is a sweet little thing . doesnt even bite #suguru though…. #sugu smiles w no teeth and speaks in soft vowels but theres something untamed abt him. something u can almost see if u pay attention #hes a fox hes a wolf hes a beast <33333 hes never quite what u think he is !! #i think his devotion borders on feral i think he would rip people apart to keep u safe #mother wolf coded <333 #can u tell i feel normal abt them tonight 😔😔

[spacedlexi]

"sounds nice... having a partner"

#the walking dead game #twdg #violentine #clementine twdg #violet twdg #MAANN when clem says this in s3 JUST WAIT BBY #people who say clemvi has no basis like ep2 isnt just them working as a team for 2 and a half hours regardless of player choice #like be fr #clem telling louis that violet patching up the back wall is ok because she needed something to keep herself busy. married behavior #vi asking clem to help check in on everyone while she deals with the wall. their shared smile when she comes back outside :) #and then they sit in the leadership spot together overlooking the yard and everything theyve planned together coming to fruition :) #sorry i just think their romance set up in eps 1 and 2 is obvious as FUCK and im tired of (Some) people pretending it isnt #'i havent seen her warm up to someone in a long time' brody literally tells clem that vi seems to like her after its been 24 hours #after shes been a block of ice for a whole year. and clem just melted those walls down immediately while they fought walkers together #violet is so devoted to clem post ep1 its embarrassing for her #'i saw she had you pinned and i- shit i got So crazy...' sorry if you dont think shes in love with clem idk what to tell you #'i'll tear that boat apart before we leave without you' i know you would girlie!!! #the animators went CRAAZAYAYAYAY the way they look at each other... their little smiles at each other....even before the belltower #the way clem looks at her while they dance.... the way she puts her head down on her shoulder so contentedly.... #and then she keeps her head on violets shoulder as she pulls away so clems chin gets dragged with it like she doesnt want to let go #'so you never forget that night' 'i never will' they are DISGUSTINGLY in love with each other it makes me physically ill #its 2024 and im still hearing 'i just didnt see it :/'. lazerbeams you #spaced art 2024

[theonewhowails]

rotating this fucked up cat in my head like a rotisserie chicken

#my art #cotl #cotl narinder #i was ruminating on the robes that the followers wear in game #and i thought it was interesting that high loyalty followers have a third eye stitched onto their hoods #because like on narinder this eye would go right where his actual third eye is #so are the robes made in the image of the red crown? or of him? #well even if the eye was a reference to the appearance of the one who waits. the followers prob think its the crown's eye #something to be said about how there is no imagery of the one who waits in the cult supposedly made to worship him #like babygirl i dont think thats great planning for ensuring this cult remains devoted to you. look whats happened now #ANYWAYS the robes are a little bit of his getup from the veil and a little bit high loyalty follower robes #and also a little bit inversion of the lamb's fleece #the bell is also a ref to lamby's get up ofc #but also its to stop narinder from scaring the shit out of followers. its not working

[mayasaura]

HANG ON. WAKE WAS SNEAKING AROUND INSIDE HARROW'S HEAD FOR NINE FUCKING MONTHS.

Throw another one into the mix permeating Harrow's soul lads. This little witch can fit so many subliminal influences into her

#if Palamedes picked up smoking after a few weeks/seconds in Ianthe's mind palace how much exchange happens in a few months? #what bits of herself did Wake leave behind in Harrow? #Harrow has always been a stubborn vicious little bitch with a mean streak a mile wide and a deep fanatical devotion to her raison d'etre #and personal trauma surrounding childbirth and reproduction and a tendency to inspire loyalty and devotion #which is all pretty much everything we know about Wake #would we even be able to TELL? #the locked tomb #ntn spoilers #the unwanted guest #tug spoilers #commander wake #harrowhark nonagesimus #harrow nonagesimus

[sentientsky]

Hozier, "Francesca"

clara, my clara

#i am SO SO SO SO FUCKING NORMAL ABOUT THEM #so normal i swear #devotion so heavy and vast and unending that it survives death a hundred billion times over #all those skulls in the sea. all those billions of years #and not even being able to keep her? to remember her? moffat went for the jugular #and then for him to SHOOT A GUN #after we hear ten go “i never would. do you hear me? i would NEVER” #“do you think i care for you so little that betraying me would make a difference?” hey brb gonna go fly into a black hole if no one minds #rhrhsndgfdghmhghmhmhmgg throwing upppppppp #doctor who #dw #dw spoilers #clara oswald #peter capaldi #doctor who spoilers #jenna coleman #the twelfth doctor #the doctor #face the raven #hell bent #heaven sent #hozier #dw edit #doctor who edit

[piosplayhouse]

The way scum villain has so many themes about writing/the literary arts and mdzs has so many themes about music and tgcf has so many themes about visual art and how each character that represents each of those respectively has their own struggle with their craft (passion burnout, loss of control over their ip/creation, obsession and dissociation) that gets turned on its head as their stories continue and their art comes to represent satisfaction and connection and devotion and love

#i know ive talked about svsss being a love letter to art and creators but i also think mdzs and tgcf have similar meta commentaries on #the nature of being an artist #perhaps a little dramatic to phrase it this way and i hope people dont get on my ass but i think wwxs downfall is somewhat reminiscent of #the artist being subsumed by their own creation and their legacy (like wwx's inventions) being bastardized and #perpetuated even by those who spit on the original creators reputation #and then tgcf obviously has major themes of art as a coping mechanism roped into that religious devotion element #whatever i just like art i think #tgcf #mdzs #svsss

[mikkeneko]

watching Jiang antis go, as a Scum Villain reader, never ceases to be kind of wild

#I'm always like #why don't jiang antis just get into Scum Villain?? #the story you seem to want Wei Wuxian to be in #where he is a poor little cinderella so bullied and abused by the jiang sect #who resent his brilliance and work to undermine and suppress him #and whip him for no reason and force him to sleep under the docks #we already have this story! this is luo binghe's story!! #luo binghe is the poor little meow meow you want!! #the elaborate revenge fantasies I sometimes see jiang anti fics devolve into #are right there on the page in SV #well... I suppose that's not true. it's not in Scum Villain. #it's there in PIDW #which the entire point of Scum Villain as a story #is devoted to exploring why those fantasies are shallow and hollow #why even the abusive characters are never really that simple #and why the trope of the poor little cinderella rising into an unstoppable crushing power fantasy machine #is an empty story in the end #okay maybe I know why jiang antis do not get into scum villain #mxtx extended universe

[orchid-n-petals]

So I've already shared parts of this on a discord server, but I have to scream about Ketheric Thorm on here as well. Obviously spoilers about the character under the cut! It's a long one.

The entirety of act 2 is about him, right? Jaheira, Shadowheart and numerous other NPCs shit on him for his fickle faith. First Selune, then Shar, then, as we meet him, Myrkul. You hear about his changes of faith on a whim, you hear that he's the person responsible for the shadow curse, he is painted as a villain, plain and simple.

You can figure it out pretty early on that Isobel was resurrected and that she is his daughter; the detail as well that he wants Isobel alive is so on the nose, it gives him away completely but there are still a few questions that remain unanswered, mainly about his faith.

And then you get to the mausoleum and the picture assembles; this entire tragedy, the death of hundreds if not thousands and the complete ruination of a landscape was all, ALL because you had this absolutely wrenched, heartbroken father who had lost everything and nobody answered his grief. He was left woefully alone, the Goddess whose daughter his daughter was involved with did nothing to save Isobel.

Imagine outliving your wife and your daughter. Imagine dedicating your life to fight the Lady of Loss, your Lady of Silver's enemy, and then be left so completely alone and in silence with your grief, with your loss. It's so, so poetic how and why he turned from Selune, and it's so understandable as well; he broke. His spirit completely broke. He couldn't deal with that void of having lost the only two important people in his life, seemingly undeservedly so. He was going mad with this and a lot of his ire was likely targeted at Aylin who, in his eye, represented Selune; she's literally her daughter, after all, and it was implied that even before the deaths of his family, he sort of saw Aylin courting Isobel as Selune taking his daughter from him, despite his service. This relationship was clearly not seen by him as a boon of "giving his daughter to the Moon-maiden".

His ways in the past clearly didn't spare him from tragedy and having to cope with it (which he clearly didn't, he snapped under the weight of his grief). He was clearly angry and unable to do anything, furious and helpless, which is a dangerous combination. A good part of his first change of heart must have been fuelled by a sense of revenge.

But then Shar didn't provide any balm to his aching heart either. If you read his letters in Grymforge and in act 2, he is so focused on enacting the will of Shar because he believes that healing lies in oblivion. Everything would be easier if he could just forget, if the damn world could just forget, if nothing was remembered because without Melodia and Isobel, nothing was worth remembering.

Then came Myrkul. Literally the only god who was not only able, but WILLING to give back his daughter to him. Imagine spending your all, EVERYTHING you have to serve two gods who would not give a single shit about the greatest suffering in your life. You were basically nothing, your loyalty didn't matter for shit, everything that was taken from you amounted to no recognition whatsoever: you should simply cope and seethe. Your grief will not simply go unanswered (which is not inherently antagonising) but ignored.

And then comes this supposedly evil entity who can alleviate your pain just like that, snap of a finger and it's a done deal.

I am so serious when I say that I believe Ketheric's main incentive was to extend Aylin's immortality to Isobel as well. You can read in her diary that she feels a taint after having came back, and there are things not even Selune can cleanse, but at this point, Ketheric doesn't care about Selune, vengeance is secondary if not tertiary, he's done that war during his Shar years and what did it give him? Literally nothing.

He doesn't even care about the fact that Isobel is still her cleric. He cares about the single most important fact: Isobel is back. Life is worth living again, there is something for him, and it was not Selune or Shar who gave it to him but Myrkul, and for this singular gift, he would raze the world for the Lord of Bones. Like people can clown on him for being disloyal but the man has the loyalty of a dog bonded to its owner.

He is powerful and is willing to go to insane lengths for crumbs. What is raising a single life for a god? Nothing. It has happened and it will happen again. But Ketheric will go to the ends of the earth to serve the single god who actually listened to him. The one god who didn't ignore him.

He knows that what he does is not the morally upright thing! He is so insanely self-aware that allying with Orin and Gortash and doing this entire plot with them only to then betray them is morally reprehensible at the best of times, he knows that people hate him, etc-etc. He was a Selunite at one point and he's not stupid. He just doesn't care; it could be literal Asmodeus and he wouldn't care as long as he got what he wanted, no matter the price.

He is probably the only one from the three of the chosen who has complete clarity over his situation, he almost sways (if you pass the check during his confrontation), he is not an inherently evil man blinded by power.

But he is inherently loyal to those deserving, and as of the story's standing, completely broken by his grief. In his eyes, at this point, the only one deserving loyalty is the one who actually listened to him. Isobel lives. It doesn't matter that she hates him, that his entire life has fallen apart, that literally nothing else that is good has come of it, because Isobel lives.

I don't think he regrets a single thing. His consciousness might tear at him at the end, but I believe he would do everything over again, exactly as he did, because in the end, his daughter was brought back. Because what would a grieving, broken parent give to bring back their child? Everything. Absolutely everything. And it's such a simply given answer, no second thoughts, no doubts.

Nobody can tell me that this man is fickle. Nobody. This man was willing to burn the world to the ground, create a Boudica destruction layer all by himself for the one single thing he wanted. For any God that would listen.

I don't know, I just have a lot of thoughts about his character.

#bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #ketheric thorm #and I also have a lot of thoughts of how Aylin foils him #I fully believe that he was in the right in the capacity that he switched around his gods when he was literally ignored despite his life's #work. despite all that he has given. I think it's reasonable to expect in the world of gods who actively meddle in mortal affairs on their #whims and make shit worse that in just one single case they would. idk. NOT expect one of their devotees to remain blindly loyal to them #after their prayers go unanswered. like yes; go and try your luck elsewhere because this devotion of yours is clearly being taken for #granted. you get NOTHING out of your worship. you can't even sleep well because your loved ones are dead and you are expected to just what? #deal with it on your own? and remain loyal? why? #some sense of 'honour'? #I really like this depiction of faith actually. I really like when clerics and paladins are given agency and critical thought that hey! #this is actually giving me nothing despite me dedicating my entire life to it! and I have only one of it so why not take it somewhere where #it's actually valued. you know. as a treat. #I *personally* much more prefer this depiction of a crisis of faith than what we got with Shadowheart or Lae'zel; their stories are very #interesting on their own but I think throwing yourself from one end to the other not because you actually have a goal that it could serve #but because you are desperate for a purpose #is a slightly less potent character narrative than having an actual goal yourself. not by much but by a little. #again #PERSONALLY

[vigilskeep]

ranking da love interests on a scale of how unhinged theyd be if their beloved was made tranquil (they would all be maximum unhinged its just a matter of deciding what flavour)

#like theres obvious ones like anders canonically would mercy kill and then burn down the world about it #and thats stellar beautiful no notes #but we gotta get into the others #for example i’d kill to see what sebastian’s little vengeance fuelled heart would get up to #not to mention that i have no idea if this is a good read or not bc i still havent played the romance but #he strikes me as a guy who would just stay devoted married to his tranquil spouse his entire life #it seems like something he would do. #and a bizarre political scenario it makes <3 fascinating vibes at starkhaven parties #i feel like other people it would hurt too much to be around them or they would feel it wasnt really them anymore #but to seb he made a vow and he has a wife those things havent changed even if so much else has #which would be crazy if anders was alive to hate it. and the implications abt hawke then. okay im going to stop talking im inventing #entire scenarios now

[hitlikehammers]

almost out of time

rating: t ♥️ cw: boys being very unserious ♥️ tags: established relationship, featuring the party as supporting cast, also featuring shootouts! (with the most negligible stakes), post S4, slice of life, softness

for @steddielovemonth day twenty: Love is saying "I love you" even when you're scared (@quinns-shadowy-arts)

early 90s rockstar husbands, baby ♥️ this is apparently what happens when you say 'oh I'll skip day 20 because I have no ideas' and then ideas come for you because you were arrogant ♥️

“Stevie,” Eddie’s breathless, and he is, in fairness, often breathless around that name but this…

Not like this.

“Shh,” Steve bites out, hisses low through clenched teeth as he presses Eddie into the wall a little harder, chest heaving against Eddie’s; “quiet.”

“Steve,” Eddie pants, looking over his shoulder in the dim, there’s fog too, from where Eddie has no fucking clue but it cuts his line of sight to only just beyond Steve’s reach; he’s no use, and he tries to listen for the approach, for footsteps, but his heartbeat’s too loud; “Steve, we’re—"

A finger presses hard, jams his lips up against his teeth as Steve glares out the corner of his eye.

“They’ll fucking hear us,” he leans so close Eddie can feel the dampness of his words when he speaks, then the full drag of his lips; feels the instruction more than hears:

“Stay quiet.”

And Eddie’s trying, he really is, but they’re…this is fucking hopeless, isn’t it? They’re outnumbered, they’ve been running for fuck knows how long. Everyone else is already gone, it’s just them, and they…they can wait it out as long as they want and Eddie would take forever with Steve, he would, but not like this, and fuck, fuck—what good is it, what’s the point when it’ll change nothing—

“But Steve,” Eddie whispers, but his breath catches it and threatens to whine through his words; he nearly chokes trying to rein it back but Steve’s got his whole hand against his mouth, now: not hard, but present. Like a bolster. It feels protective. It feels safe where there’s no safety left.

The red flashes in the dim and fuck; fuck

“Stay down, and don’t fucking talk, okay?” Steve breathes harsh right against Eddie’s ear, and Eddie’s shoved up against him so close, so close that his warmth is Eddie’s warmth in the chill, so close he can feel Steve’s pulse inside his own; they’re, it’s—

They’re almost out of time.

“St—"

And then Steve’s lips are on his, insistent, demanding, claiming, keeping, his tongue in Eddie’s mouth and sure, it’s a very effective, tried and true way to shut Eddie up, but this: this feels like so much more; it’s all passion and feeling, adrenaline and that tip-of-a-knife feeling, that plunge-before-the-plunge and Eddie’s heart feels bold for it, and he sucks at Steve’s lip and kisses once with force of his own before he breaks off and cups Steve’s cheek, reaches to cradle his face full-on and steals one last kiss before looking him square in the eye, decision made, though—

There wasn’t really a decision to it; there’s no choice to be had when it’s him, or Steve.

“I love you, baby,” Eddie tells him fierce, with all the feeling in him; “so fucking much,” which is always true, not just here at the end. He hopes Steve knows that.

“Eddie, what the hell—"

And Eddie’s scrambling up, creeping out from their hiding place and toward the shuffling approach incoming.

“What are you doing?” Steve rasps, lunging to grab at Eddie’s ankle but Eddie’s determined, he’s got momentum, he’s already up and clearing the corner and—

“For love!” he cries out as he leaps into the open, arms wide and asking for the hit—

And it comes, it fucking comes almost immediately.

Eddie drops to the ground, gasping.

And then they’re on top of him.

“Fucking drama queen,” Dustin, Dustin of all of them has the goddamn audacity to say to him as he walks over his prone frame and takes aim at Steve who, in fairness, does take out Mike before Dustin takes three pulls to hit him and win the game to screeching digital fanfare through the speakers.

“You could have just stayed down, man,” Steve huffs with a roll of his eyes as he stands up and unbuckles his vest.

“We were almost out of time!” Eddie gapes a little, sitting up and pointing forcefully toward the big red numbers counting down how many seconds they had left in the arena. Less than three minutes.

“We could have made it, these shitheads still don’t have any aim,” Steve purses his lips with so much of that…that glorious bitchy judgement Eddie loves most to lick off of him, he wonders where he can drag him to—

The flickering of colors next to him catches his attention and: oh. Right. They dragged the kids here. It’s fucking sweltering, they’re all back from school, and the options were swimming or something air-conditioned. And the new releases at the movie theater were all kinda shitty.

And Eddie cannot risk getting them thrown out of here for public indecency at the minimum: the laser tag’s connected to the best fucking arcade in town.

And frankly, yeah: it’s been years in the plural now since they shut the Upside Down…y’know, down, but he’s kinda proud of the guys, extra proud of his Stevie, and actually, yeah, kinda proud of himself, that what with the dark, and the lights, and red and the guns: they were fine. They were safe.

It was fun. It was just a game.

“I mean,” Eddie picks back up his defense, gesturing at the at the kids with their little chest plates all blinking a celebratory red-blue-white-blue-red that feels either very patriotic or very law-enforcement-themed while his and Steve’s remain dark; “they were on their way to our location, one of us had to draw their attention,” and it was going to be Eddie because…

Because: for love.

“We weren’t gonna look there,” Lucas deadpans as Mike snickers and high-fives Dustin a little…a little too triumphantly and okay, fine, he thinks he’s starting to get why Steve had been taking this so seriously: to keep the shitheads from this kind of ego-inflating victory; “we were headed the other way.”

Eddie doesn’t even have to turn to feel the weight of Steve's stare, the vindication and self-congratulation in it's just…tangible in the air.

“Oh,” Eddie bites his lip, tries to think of an angle; “umm,” he twirls his hair and then Steve’s at his side, bumping his shoulder and he can’t really hide, or delay any further—and it’s Steve, next to him, so: he doesn’t exactly want to that bad, anyway, so he turns and gives the softest, widest-eyed look he can muster:

“Good intentions?” he sells it for as much as he can gather up, and Steve?

Steve just snorts, and bumps his shoulder, pretty fucking hard.

“You’re unbelievable,” Steve chuckles a little, shakes his head but doesn’t rush to follow the boys to the armory; he glances that way, but turns back quick, and then he’s grabbing the back of Eddie’s neck and: oh.

Yeah, this was more what Eddie’d been going for with the farewell-forever-my-most-beloved kiss he left Steve with before his grand-though-arguably-unnecessary sacrifice.

“And you’re buying lunch,” Steve breaks off with a nip to his lower lip before shoving his target-vest at Eddie’s chest and making for the door.

And Eddie’s a little breathless again, as he whines Steve’s name—so fucking often, just, breathless around that name—before he struggles a little to unhook his own vest because he’s actually hungry, now that Steve’s landed him with the bill for lunch, but really: it’s a fucking empty threat, either way.

Like: they share a fucking bank account.

tag list (comment to be added): @pearynice @hbyrde36 @slashify @finntheehumaneater @wxrmland @dreamwatch @perseus-notjackson

♥️

divider credit here

#steddie #steve harrington #eddie munson #fluff #established relationship #established steddie #self-sacrificing eddie #long-suffering steve #deeply devoted husbands #idiots in love #slice of life #slightly bitchy (I mean hot I mean no I mean yes hot) steve #if the choice is between protecting one of them they'll always choose the other #because they will kinda be a LITTLE self-sacrificing for the rest of their natural born lives because they're that in LOVE #steddielovemonth #love is saying “I love you” even when you're scared #playful steddie #stranger things

[biblicalhorror]

Aroace Riz real but also Fabian is SO clearly in love with him and Riz has no idea

#honestly fabian might not even fully know yet #a core part of fabians character is that he is so deeply afraid of rejection that he is never going to pursue the people he actually wants #i do think he likes Maezy a lot but i think he only knows how to pursue hot toxic women that will discard him at a moments notice #which in a way protects him from ever actually dealing with heartbreak #is he a gay man dealing with comphet? ehh maybe #i could see that #but I think the vibe i get is more about how he has these platonic friends he completely adores and is fully devoted to #and then in another category he has the people that he does not have any actual attachment to that he will allow himself to pursue #and crossing the boundaries in between those two categories or allowing himself to pursue someone he really cares for #would require a level of vulnerability he is in no way prepared for #in his home life he has an emotionally detached mother who is well liked but kind of floats through interactions on a surface level #and a father who is extremely concerned with fame and glory and attention but doesnt seem to have ever stopped moving in his life #genuinely fabian does not know what a safe loving partnership would look like #and we see him constantly oscillating between emulating his mother and his father in relationships #but just beneath the surface is a little boy who wants so badly to cling to his loved ones so tight and be squeezed right back #with no way of knowing how to even ask for that if he wanted #and riz is his best friend in the world and he knows on some level that riz is simply not interested in having that kind of relationship #not on the level fabian needs #but that also makes riz a safe target for these feelings of devotion #theyre just friends! just besties! fabian never has to reckon with his own loneliness or harmful patterns #if he channels all of his yearning for closeness onto his best friend #anyway! this boy needs therapy #fhjy #fhjy spoilers #fabriz

[uhbasicallyjustmilex]

quite possibly some of the least platonic looks that have ever been exchanged

#i mean seriously #look at this shit??? #the layers of love and devotion and fascination and awe #the YEARNING #the sheer everything of something that is too much to be contained in one look #and eludes all words or description #in what universe can this be described as platonic?? #i’m not okay #not even a little bit #(which is my own fault for putting together a compilation like this. but still) #milex #tlsp #the last shadow puppets #alex turner #miles kane #lulu posts

[densitywell]

the thing is, like, imogen is blunt, and indecisive, and impulsive. she's cynical, angry at the world, and seemingly much less interested in doing good than in holding on to her loved ones. she's hypocritical, incredibly violent one moment and horrified at the prospect the next. she's passive aggressive, on occasion. she's overly critical. she's scatterbrained.

and all of that stuff is very fucking fascinating, and so fun to watch, and core to what makes her her. but not only are those things not the totality of imogen as a character, they're very much inextricable from the things that make her sympathetic.

imogen has spent much of the last decade of her life in pain, and isolated because of it. when she wasn't alone she couldn't relax, having to keep tight control over her mind so as to not get overwhelmed or invade the privacy of others. because even through all that pain and loneliness, she still bore the responsibility not to impose on other people's minds. and when she fails or slips up or gives in, all of the distrust and suspicion she recieves regardless is suddenly viewed as justified.

which is not to say imogen is not responsible for her actions, or the harm she causes others. of course she is! no one is saying she isn't! but, just like literally every other person, her actions don't exist in a void but within the context of both her past and present.

analyzing that context and coming up with explanations of her behavior that consider it is not excusing her actions or refusing to acknowledge her flaws. it is not coddling imogen to sympathize with her even when she's fucking up. these are pretty standard ways to discuss a character you enjoy actually! it's weird that having a nuanced perspective on a character's actions is being treated as an issue!

#imogen temult #critical role #cr #i mean. to get into it a little bit. one benefit of this approach to character analysis is that it often gives you takes that feel #much truer to the text than “imogen speaks into people's heads to manipulate them and she was the one who abandoned her dad” which. how #to get into it even more its so fun that the “not being hypercritical of imogen is sexist actually” discourse is happening mere days after #the “anyone questioning orym's decisions clearly hates him and liam and also conflict and flawed characters in general” discouse. lol #if laura had given a monologue announcing “imogen has seen the cycle of harm and is choosing to perpetuate it” i wld talk abt that too. btw #were i without a massive headache i would devote more attention to anticipating and responding to counterarguments #but we're just gonna have to take the “if you get it you get it” route on this and release this post like a wild animal into a crowded room #ok bye. actually i have an imodna specific followup but then bye. #long post / #CRposting