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colourstreakgryffin · 7 months

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omg haiii it's my first time making a request😶‍🌫️ can u do a Douma x afab reader that is part of his cult? got an idea from one of the stories my mom used to tell me as a kid

It's called "Scheherazade" :DD The Sultan maries women at night and then unalives them by morning. So Scheherazade devised a scheme. She would tell a story every night and leave it on a cliffhanger every time. After 1001 stories, he made the decision of keeping her.

basically- before reader is supposed to ascend to paradise (get eaten alive lolol), she does that ^ so that he'll spare her and let her entertain him every night with her very intriguing stories until he finally doesn't even care about eating him until he doesn't even feel like eating her anymore👍

What’s Afab? Oh, nevermind! I’ll find it out myself with my magic ✨G O O G L E✨ hands! Okay. Hmm, I hope I can do this exactly as you want

Douma- Fascinating Tales

“Aaah~ really? Continue!” Douma hummed excited, tapping his mighty clawed hands on his dark Hakama pants rhythmically as he continues to flash his somewhat manipulative beam before you, encouraging you on pinpointing the interesting details of your next wild tale. Sat on your knees in front of his glamorous, shiny throne, Douma egged you on to speak once again in your immersive tone like you did just before

Your situation with the one and only Upper Moon 2, Douma was a truly fascinating one. More fascinating than the many stories you told him at the peak of black night. You were a prideful follower of the Eternal Paradise Cult, unaware of the fact you were truly in danger until the very final day you were a faithful sheep to the women body-loving demon. Your beloved leader, Douma himself on one faithful day, selected you as the special one to “ascend to paradise”, the special treatment he always spoke about

You, however, weren’t a fan of being eaten alive by your admired leader so you indirectly fought back on his offer and decided to stall his greedy need to devour you, such a pretty woman, by telling him a story so intriguing that he just couldn’t resist but let you finish up, sparing your life in the process. This precisely developed strategy always saved you from meeting a painful and cruel end as Douma grew eager to hear your far tales and kept you alive slowly to satisfy his curiosity

Over many months, you seemingly never ran dry of your tales and Douma’s almost mind-swallowing desire faded away into nothing, at his own surprise. He didn’t want to eat you anymore, he couldn’t really see you as a another walking lunch but as his all-so-interesting story teller, someone who comes into his throne room at a very precise time and tell him a new fantasy narrative that’ll shake his thoughts for hours on end afterwise

You couldn’t believe your efforts genuinely worked as you gently smiled back at Douma, parting your lips to persevere the lead you were weaving and Douma was all for it with every fibre of his bean. Even if you were to lose your material and spark, Douma knew he wouldn’t want to kill you. You don’t seem like you would taste appeasing to him and he was feeling a little but meaningful flame of passion for you burn within him. He wanted to keep you alive until you perished at natural means, he didn’t mind

He could always have you read him written books if you had nothing left to entertain him with. Douma traced his otherworldly beautiful rainbow eyes over your face, your cute defined face and those pretty sparkling eyes. He always found himself amused by your voice and your passion as you explained the plots to him. Douma found you adorable in every form

“Oh, right~? Is that so? What happened to the siblings after they traversed the woods, Dokusha, my dear~?”

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avelera · 6 months

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Authority and the Urge: Morality and Redemption in Baldur's Gate 3

Theme 1: Domination vs. Freedom as an Alternative Moral Axis to Evil vs. Good

One thing that makes Baldur's Gate such a pleasure to play is that the writing team had such a clear understanding of their themes. Good and evil are not the clean-cut alignments of the D&D world. Rather, they reimagined good vs. evil along more subtle lines of domination and control vs. personal freedom and healing. For the most part, they are remarkably consistent without being preachy, which is no mean feat. Nor do they say you can't dabble in the morally ambiguous, indeed, all the Companions have dabbled in the morally gray and you are invited to draw your own line as to what behavior you find acceptable for them. Even Wyll and Karlach, the most morally upstanding, have made deals with devils for the greater good, and been press-ganged against their will into fighting for an evil tyrant. You are given the choice to say there is no redemption for even these unwilling moments of moral impurity, if you so choose. You can reject Gale for not telling you about the Orb immediately. You can kill Astarion for being a vampire, which isn't his fault. You can criticize and reject Shadowheart for her Shar worship and thus never learn the full extent of how much it was not her choice to join in the first place. You can also urge companions like Gale, Astarion, and Shadowheart to give in to their worst instincts and become true monsters, which brings me to the next important theme.

Theme 2: What is the Worth of a Single Life?

When speaking of themes in BG3, another major one is the power of one person to sway the path of others in their lives towards good or evil. One hand extended in friendship can draw Astarion back from a painful and self-destructive existence, the pursuit of power to insulate him from pain and harm that ultimately would lead him to perpetuate the cycle of abuse he suffered under. There are clear implications of how much the Companions life is changed by their encounter with the player character, in a really touching dynamic about the importance of one life to another, which also works as a game mechanic, imbuing your interactions as a player character with the satisfying power fantasy of being able to have social impact on your Companions as friends, loved ones, or (in an evil run) victims of your sadism. You can make or break them.

Which brings me, finally, to the Dark Urge. It's clear to my eyes that the Dark Urge was originally planned as The Custom Character path. What I imagine happened next, however, is that they realized that there were hard story beats in the Dark Urge's narrative, certain deaths for example, which would be supremely limiting and unsatisfying for many players, who would chafe against the lack of choice.

The Dark Urge is a fantastic novel character, since characters in a novel don't have to do what the reader would do, but video games with their interactive nature usually require a bit more freedom of choice for players to be satisfying. Obviously there are exceptions to this rule, but in general it's very challenging and rarely attempted in video games to put the player-controlled character into a situation where the player loses agency, where the character dies without player freedom to prevent it, makes choices contrary to what the player character would do in a game that otherwise offers choice, or that simply kills the player character without the option to avoid that fate. It can be done but it's very very tough, some of the biggest complaints leveled at RPGs like BG3 or Dragon Age games is when the narrative takes choice away or makes the character make choices, unavoidably, that players would not make or would fight to avoid if they could. They are often the center of the greatest fandom ire. So that's why I think the OC Tav with the blank backstory was created, for those who chafed at the lovely but restrictive narrative arc of the Dark Urge.

Mirrors of Morality: The Dark Urge's Redemption

I mention that I think the Dark Urge is fundamental to the core design of the game because their narrative path so nicely mirrors the other Companions. A blank-slate Tav is wonderful to work with, and very freeing, but you are left with the slightly hollow feeling of not having nearly the level of trauma or issues to work through that the Companions do. Your character has no past and few opportunities to form a coherent narrative that precedes the events of the tadpoling the way the others do. From a gameplay perspective this is of course nearly impossible to do otherwise, they can't anticipate every RP headcanon a player might run, but they can offer one with the Dark Urge who has the same sort of deep dichotomy and divide in their backstory that the others have.

That said, I completed an Evil Dark Urge run before I completed a good one, despite rolling two attempts at a good Dark Urge before stumbling onto an Evil Dark Urge that worked for me (an older drow matriarch, for those curious).

The reason I struggled was because I couldn't imagine a Good Dark Urge with agency in their prior life. My evil Dark Urge was a willing partner of Gortash and Thorm. One reason I made her older was because I imagined her as mature, worldly, cruel, sadistic, and completely on board with the plot. The amnesia was only a brief interruption to her plans, a distraction. Once she recalled enough of her life and previous goals to piece together her part in the Dead Three plot, she went right back into enacting it and, in the end, won, becoming the unquestioning ruler of a world of thralls in Bhaal's name. If anything, the dialogue options that implied that Bhaal was the one controlling her, or that she had done anything but make her own choices were almost insulting. This woman knew what she was doing, beginning to end, with the amnesia as only a minor interruption.

But this interpretation of the Dark Urge was based on the letter we find in the Dark Urge's point of view, where again, they show no unwillingness to be an agent of the Dead Three plot. Gortash's warm welcome further cemented the view in my mind: the Dark Urge knew what they were doing and was a willing evil participant.

So how, I wondered, can anyone justify a Good Dark Urge? Not saying it can't be done, but how?

The implications I found troubling at first were that anyone who was evil would become good if they were simply removed from their environment. It had a ring of a sort of natural innocence, a sort of "noble savage" worldview that all of us would tilt towards good if our minds were wiped clean. Optimistic in some ways, very dangerous in its implications in others. Then I realized it wasn't a statement. It was a question.

Theme 3: Nature vs. Nurture

I then realized that nature vs. nurture is actually everywhere in BG3 side plots. Another reinforcement of the fact the Dark Urge storyline is baked into the DNA of the story. You have the Githyanki egg plot, Baelen's memory loss making him a good but absentminded person (which can be undone if you give him noblestalk, when he reverts back to the cruel man he was), heck, even the owlbear cub can be given a loving home where he thrives. You are shown, over and over again, stories where you can choose and contribute to and ponder whether or not evil is a product of nature or nurture, in a way that's incredibly relevant to pondering the Dark Urge's path forward under amnesia. Was this Bhaalspawn evil by nature or by choice? It's very juicy stuff.

Furthermore: all of the companions actually offer ways to rationalize the Dark Urge and choose a path forward for them to fall back into evil or move forward into good. This is because the writers of BG3 are actually superb at thematic mirroring. Each Companion can be a mirror for one way to understand the Dark Urge, how they were evil in the past, and how they could choose to change.

Shadowheart: Indoctrinated into the cult of a cruel god from childhood, you grew up in a world where the only moral compass you had was utterly controlled by those around you. You never knew a different world than the cult of Shar/Bhaal. Now with your memory wiped, you have the option to listen to the voice deep down that says the cruelty demanded of you by the little you can remember feels wrong or even follow the good examples of your newfound Companions to see a different way to live. Maybe you always had goodness in you deep down, but the society you knew channeled you towards evil that you're only now free of, albeit with a past full of holes you're trying to fill in again.

Karlach: Maybe you were never a truly willing participant in the Bhaal cult. Incredibly skilled at killing, yes. Perhaps a bit morally flexible to get involved with figures like Gortash. But ultimately, when you were whisked out of the bloody war and world that you were immersed in by circumstance, you saw your chance to get your old life back from before the Bhaal cult and you took it. Baldur's Gate is your home. People like Karlach are the ones hurt by the actions of the Dead Three Plot that you might never have put a face to if you'd never been taken from that world. Now that you see the harm caused, now that you're free, you can finaly become your own person again after being a foot soldier for evil forces.

Lae'zel: You were a true believer in Bhaal's cult. You grew up worshipping your evil god. It's the only life you knew and the only life that gave you meaning. You were a willing participant but before now, you'd never known any other life. However, through exposure to other people, other cultures, other ways of life, you're beginning to see that there are ways to live outside your narrow life of indoctrination in violence. The final blow comes to this worldview when you learn that your beloved god is completely fine with your destruction. They allowed Orin to take your place. Bhaal/Vlaakith would see you destroy and enslave the world for their own glory and be perfectly happy to destroy you at the end of all your hard, devoted work. You did not sin against Bhaal by rebelling against the full horror of his cruelty and negligence towards you, rather, Bhaal has sinned against you.

Gale: You were the beloved Chosen of Bhaal. Coddled, cradled, told you were special and perfect and wonderful. Of course you happily participated in the Dead Three plot, you lived a charmed life as the elevated darling of your deity. But then something went wrong. You were cast out. You've awoken lesser than you were, your body betrays you, you've lost knowledge that once made you walk among mortals as a near-godly figure. And it seems like Bhaal/Mystra doesn't care, as you wander the wilderness. You're hurt. Betrayed. Tadpoled. Orin has taken your place so easily, just as Gale was cast aside so easily. You don't know what you did wrong. You're angry. Resentful. How dare Mystra/Bhaal cast you aside so easily? They offer you a solution to get back into their good graces which require a complete denial, a complete destruction of yourself - becoming Bhaal's chosen once more or blowing yourself up for redemption. Ultimately, the way forward is in choosing yourself and relying on your own cleverness, rather than being seduced back into their circle of influence.

Astarion: Bhaal was a cruel master to you who controlled your every move. That doesn't mean you were a nice person though, or you didn't enjoy murder. But now you are finally free of Bhaal/Cazador's immediate reach. They cannot fulfill their evil plot without you. You can destroy them now, undermine them, or replace them - fulfill the Dead Three plot in your own name. Or you can take this chance once finally outside their grasp to rediscover who you really are, what you want, all the while your hungers drive you towards continuing to take the lives of others. But perhaps the help of new friends can help you deny these urges and steer you towards being a new person. What that new, better person is, what they even look like, is unclear to you, you've never really had positive influences. But maybe you can find it together.

Wyll: You lived your own life before you ended up in Bhaal's plot, as Bhaal's chosen. But that life was stolen. Now, through circumstances beyond your control, you have disappointed your father. Is there a way to escape the reach of Bhaal's control, Bhaal's pact? Will you sacrifice your soul to redeem yourself in the eyes of your father?

Honorable Mention - Minthara: Tadpoled and controlled by the Absolute, you are now set on throwing down all old gods that once thought to control you. Maybe you'll take over the Dead Three plot in your own name. Maybe you'll just take pleasure in tearing it down for your own reasons. Either way, your gods have sinned against you, the cult of the Absolute controlled you, and now you are unleashed to take vengeance.

With the Dark Urge, any one of these paths can provide a map for how to imagine your life under Bhaal's cult. Any one can provide a map for how to make use of your newfound freedom and to justify becoming a better person and saving the world. Or choosing not to.

#bg3 #bg3 meta #the dark urge #this got long but oh well i had a lot of thoughts that kinda went together

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id-be-home-with-you · 4 months

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Irving and Hickey act as foils in the book

Listen. Those if us who have read The Terror (2007) by Mr. Simmons know it has its issues. I have read some of the most horrid sentences written about women I’ve ever seen in that book. The show significantly improved on many aspects of the story especially in terms of an anti-colonial narrative which I think is vital to how the story should be told.

But honestly there are some amazingly written scenes and character dynamics that the show lacks.

I’ve finished reading the book a second time and I was taken aback by how Hickey and Irving are such direct foils to each other.

Hickey in the book verses the show is pretty similar. They fleshed him out a bit more in terms of his relationships and made him more sympathetic. Primary example is instead of taking advantage of Magnus in a romantic relationship like he was in the book he has one with Gibson which is/was more genuine.

Irving’s character in the show is a shell of who he is in the book. He is much more fleshed out and has a lot of chapters in his pov (much more then even James if memory serves). Also he has more of a relationship with Silna instead of Goodsir. Although Irving was more obsessed with Silna in a way that wasn’t clearly reciprocated in my interpretation. I think changing that plotline to Goodsir was a much better idea.

Hickey and Irving are at odds right from the get go with him discovering Hickey and Gibson/Magnus in the show/book. However in the show after the initial confrontation and Irving’s eventual death, that’s kind of where their interactions and narrative connections end.

In the book this is very different. Both Hickey and Irving are POV characters. Though they may not speak much afterwards often their chapters would follow each other and even mirror each other in some way. A few examples:

Hickey mentioning going to a whorehouse without a sponsor as a figure of speech but Irving mentioning his very positive experience with a sex worker that his dad brought him to

Both have some kind of sexual subplot to their povs. Irving’s desire for Silna, Hickey’s relationship with Magnus

My personal favorite which could have been a great transition in the show is is Hickey emerging from the tunnel to help Blanky after his chase scene with Tuunbaq followed by Irving going into an ice tunnel they found Silna had made to the outside

The prominence of knives is there too with Irving mentioning only having his knife when going out after Silna, using his knife to cut the blubber given to him by the Inuit. Hickey then kills him with a knife (likely a choice by Simmons because Hickeys knife is one of the identifiable artifacts recovered from the expedition)

Irving’s fear of Tuunbaq (amplified by a scene where he actually saw Silna partake in a ritual with Tunbaaq when he was searching for her) while Hickey is intrigued by it shown by him wearing charms of Tuunbaq

So there’s this contrast between the two that could be boiled down to morality. Irving the “good guy” Hickey the “villain.” Simmons is using the Good Christian Lieutenant to contrast with the Mutinous Deviant Caulkers Mate.

But kind of an odd choice to make the main villain of your book’s a foil to a side character right? Arguably he should have made more effort to have Crozier be Hickey’s foil. I’d say Crozier and Hickey are foils to a certain degree in the book and they definitely are in the show. But the contrasts between Hickey and Irving are much clearer. So why?

If you take the constrasts between the two a step farther (because of course I am, I’m this deep already) there is also this really interesting relation of the importance of religion to Irving and Hickey’s death.

For those unaware Hickey’s death is completely different in the book (and in my opinion more satisfying). There is not a lot on what goes down in the mutineer camp because crozier never gets captured and the book focuses on him for the last chunk. The last Hickey chapter finds him in a sledge with him being the only one alive and Magnus’ corpse near him. He believes he has become God. Not like A god like capital G GOD. He has this really well written internal monologue that I think everyone should read. Like he is unbothered by Magnus death because he believes he can bring him back to life at any moment. He’s then humbled when Tuunbaq comes by to eat his soul but then SPITS HIS SOUL OUT AND LEAVES HIM TO FREEZE TO DEATH.

But I digress. Hickey sincerely believes that this whole journey was the story of his personal creation myth.

And I argue Irving’s death is the classic elimination of a heretic/nonbeliever.

I don’t think Hickey had this delusional god complex until after the mutineers left. But I do think Hickey thought Irving was the only thing standing in his way due to him having blackmail if he needed it. And when Irving met the Inuit he knew his power with the mutineers would threatened if there was another group that could offer salvation. So he made the decision to kill Irving.

Both in the show and book I believe this is Hickey’s point of no return. It is an unjustifiable murder that fucks over EVERYONE not just his enemies. He murdered Irving solely for his own personal gain and power.

So I think Irving and Hickey are foils in a way that solidified Hickeys descent into becoming the villain of the story in our perspective and the hero in his own.

And if I dare continue with the religious imagery and further contrast: Hickey may have made himself out to be God, but he made Irving a martyr.

#the terror #the terror amc #the terror book #cornelius hickey #john irving #tuunbaq #tunbaaq #the terror tunbaaq #the terror tuunbaq #francis crozier #silna #silna the terror #lady silence #thomas blanky #magnus manson #billy gibson #the terror analysis #buk speaks

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wutheringmights · 9 months

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Author's commentary for latest chapter???🥺🥺🥺 I am very invested

Of course!

(I really need to start writing these in advance lol)

I talked previously how this chapter was an overall Pain In My Ass to write. Now that the chapter is out, you can now better see why. This chapter establishes how both the past and the present are going to have completely different tensions than what they have had previously. It was vital that I sold the reader on the new narrative tensions, and that task turned out to be more daunting than I thought.

A big issue for me was feeling like I could write something that could live up to the hype. Don't get me wrong-- I love that you guys are all really excited for new chapters and there is no way I would have even made it this far without your support. But I did start to freak out and believe that nothing I could write could live up to hype.

In the end, I ended up powering through it. I'm feeling better now that the chapter is done and (surprise) I didn't die. But it was a little rough for a while there.

All that being said, can you believe I spent the more time on the past than I did on the present? It's such a short part of the chapter, but I got really overwhelmed with making sure that I nailed this last moment between Link and the engineer, plus Lincoln's lecture.

Normally, when I get stuck, I would have switched over to the other plot line, but I was convinced I needed to write the past first so that I had the full context for Spirit and Warriors during their scenes in the present day. If I had admitted defeat at any time, this chapter probably would have been done like 3 weeks earlier.

Lincoln is the undisputed MVP of this chapter. He finally came in and did what I said he would do like 10 chapters ago. And he finally got to yell at Warriors too. King shit.

Remember how I said that I originally intended for Lincoln to be an atheist? You can see some of the remains of that idea in how he talks about Farore.

Originally, I wanted Spirit to have no dialogue during the past. That way, the tension to finally hear Spirit talk to Warriors again in the present would start building up in the past. I ended up abandoning this idea for the sake of that tiny moment where Spirit initially refuses to go with Lincoln.

I almost included Orlanda as a member of Lincoln's rescue squad, but cut her for the sake of realism; only Gaudin was necessary and she would probably be better needed on the front lines

I almost ended this chapter with a line that would mirror the opener for the present day plot ("The engineer was gone, and Link swore he would get him back" vs "Spirit was here, and Warriors thought he would throw up") but as cool as that would have been, I wanted to emphasize to the reader what the past was going to be about now that both the engineer and the child were gone: Link alone and spiraling.

With that said, on to the present day:

Shout out to my lack of desire to work the actual job I am paid to do-- many scenes in the present day were written when I was at work, with Warriors's confession to the rest of the gang being the key one. I actually wrote that as a script, which I might share some day

Speaking of which, I initially didn't plan to write out Warriors's exact speech. I was going to say that Warriors "told them everything" and then fade to black. I realized that was stupid when I remembered how important it's going to be later to realize that there are a lot of things Warriors left out.

Was the solution for the coded documents satisfying or extremely stupid? I don't even know, man. I think it was very clever of me, but I am also so, SO dense.

The documents and the Nephus world-building was going to be solved way earlier in the story (like, back at the citadel) but I kept pushing off the scene in favor of other stuff. This was the very last chance I had to cover this stuff before it became absolutely necessary info. Good job, me!

I mean, doing this now also 100% killed the pacing of the chapter, but what can I girl do?

God, okay. We got to talk Spirit and Time now.

We've only scratched the surface of Spirit's whole deal. Issues-With-A-Captial-I, like I said. So I'll refrain from talking too depth about him for now.

I will say that when I was trying to figure out what to do with older Spirit, the word I kept coming back to was "unpleasant." I really liked the idea of him going from this caring and sweet kid to just being unpleasant to be around. He's not necessarily a bad person, but you might not want to get coffee with him.

You might recall a little snippet I wrote a year ago where I accidentally tested out an older Spirit concept. You can see that even back then he was going to have a smoking vice.

Speaking of which, Spirit striking his match on the ceiling of his train has a silly origin. A while back I watched "The Quiet Man," which stars John Wayne. I can't recommend either movie or actor, but I was enthralled with the way Wayne's character would strike the matches for his cigarettes on anything around him: from the ceiling of his home to the bottoms of his boots. After watching it, I immediately knew that I was going to give Spirit that habit.

Spirit wears a turtleneck under his jumpsuit because every time I see the open chest on the canon design, I cringe at the OSHA violation.

Okay, let's talk Time.

I joked in the author's note that Time's relationship with Spirit was a reflection of my mommy issues. From the start, I wanted TIme to embody the role of a child who's source of suffering is their parent's suffering and the complicated emotions that arise from that.

How do I put this? You can sit there and look at all the facts about your mother. You can lay out her history and understand where she was coming from, how every reaction was a response to a trauma that far surpasses you. Every bad moment was never about you. So you sit there and say that you can forgive your mother as a person. But at the same time... she's not a person. She's your mother. And she failed you.

So yeah. Apply all that to a 30 year old man lol.

I tried my best to make it clear that Time didn't hate either Spirit or Warriors from the start, but either I wasn't clear enough or readers didn't acknowledge what Time was saying.

For example, in chapter 10 when Warriors confronts Time about knowing everything, Time said that he "couldn't hate" Warriors. A lot of readers took that as Time choosing to work with Warriors out of necessity. I meant for it to show that Time's feelings were more complicated than just black-and-white forgiveness and hate.

(I also purposefully wrote that "I can't hate you" line two years ago with the intention of it being echoed again during this argument. Nice to finally get that one off the plate).

Speaking of which, I remember getting a few readers saying how cute it was that the child was trying to take care of Link and the engineer in the past; and I was sitting there like "oh my god no. a child taking care of his parental figures is a source of trauma. don't say something you'll regret i beg you."

Back on topic-- I won't blame anyone if they think this revelation about Time came out of left field. There was more that I could have done to make his view a bit clearer before this chapter, but I also won't lie and say that I didn't intend to keep Time's specific views a little fuzzy before this moment.

That being said, I think some readers assumed that Time's view of the whole situation would be more objective. Which, no. He was a child back then. There is no way in hell he would be anywhere close to objective on what happened.

We'll dig deeper in Time as the story goes, but in conclusion, if you think this wasn't done well, you're probably right.

Also, I think it's worth mentioning that my plan on a thematic level was to get the reader comfortable with how they think about Warriors on a moral level at this point so that introducing Spirit and Time's problems can re-complicate and challenge your ideas.

I'll talk more about this later when we get more in Spirit's side of things, but generally whether you are pro- or anti-Warriors, how Time and Spirit dealt with what happened is meant to make any reader searching for an absolute answer to the moral questions very, VERY frustrated

(Whether I can pull that off as a writer is a different matter entirely, though)

Fun fact: I originally wanted Warriors to play a bigger role in the argument so that it would be a three way Spirit vs TIme vs Warriors fight. Then I realized that Warriors wouldn't say anything if it seemed like it would help force Spirit out.

There were a lot of tiny moments I wanted to do with Spirit being introduced to the rest of the Chain that involved his sensing shenanigans that I cut for space; rest assured that they will still happen.

God, I don't even know what to say about that ending scene without spoiling something. Let's just say that Spirit and Warriors are going to get soooooooooooo [redacted]

#i feel like i had something to say about wind but by lord i cannot remember it #head empty. no thoughts. very sleepy #lu ctb #me rambling #ask #linked universe #anonymous #fallenleafofmaple #ctb spoilers #ctb lore #ctb commentary #director's commentary #can't remember which tag is the correct one

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fleetways · 1 year

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I am fascinated by Ometal, may I inquire about it?

Credit where credit is due, my friend was the one who got me into ometal and pretty much everything I like about it came from conversations we’ve had and ideas he’s come up with.

Basically this all stems from the idea of “what if metal sonic joined team dark,” since team dark were the ones that picked up Metal’s body after he’s defeated at the end of sonic heroes

Unfortunately nothing ever came of this in canon, but in another universe I don’t think metal sonic wouldn’t have been satisfied returning to eggman’s side after getting a taste of freedom and power of his own (plus, I think if he had returned, eggman would have put measures into place to ensure he was never betrayed again, which is my personal headcanon as to why metal sonic doesn’t speak nor really play a very large narrative role anymore). Of course after the events of Heroes he’s also too damaged to go anywhere else, so w/o any other options he decides to stick with Team Dark. I think Shadow would be the one to offer it, as he and Metal already have a lot in common and we see that they work well as a team in games like Sonic Rivals 2 (Metal is also one of the few characters Shadow has verbally expressed outright concern for, so there’s that). I also think Shadow would get a kick out of messing with Sonic by keeping Metal around (Shadow: “What? I took a page from your book and decided to forgive my enemies”).

As for the Metal/Omega dynamic itself, I don’t think Rouge would mind having Metal join but I think Omega would HATE Metal Sonic at first. But eventually it becomes clear that like him Metal is the cream of the crop of eggman’s creations and like him, has also unaligned himself with Eggman. This would make it difficult for him to see Metal as just any other old badnik. However, I do think Omega would consider himself to be the only one of them to actually have free will, as he went against his programming while Metal Sonic continues to comply with his original directive even after leaving Eggman.

On the other hand, I think Metal would see the opposite. In his eyes, Omega’s original directive was to guard Shadow the Hedgehog and under Team Dark, that’s still what he’s doing. Therefore, him and Omega are the same in that way. Of course, this insinuation would PISS omega off, but I also think it could kick off a serious robot existential crisis moment (I don’t actually think Omega joining Team Dark is a result of his original programming, even if the argument could be made, but I think it could serve as an interesting character investigation).

There’s a lot of nuance to Sonic robots beyond the original franchise concept of “artificial bad natural good” (We saw this as early as Gamma in Adventure and recently with Sage in Frontiers), so I think exploring the dichotomy between Omega and Metal’s personal goals versus their original programming has potential for a good free will/forging your own path/finding your own people story. Also Metal and Omega are both totally down for murder so thats cool.

Most of this really boils down to me and my friend wanting wacky gay robot hijinks and the fact that Metal Sonic is my #1 favorite sonic character so I like creating content for him. It’s a fun pairing to me that I think has more potential than pure crack but also isn’t meant to be super serious.

TLDR: i like it when robots are gay and kill

#ometal #metal sonic #omega #sonic heroes #didn’t mean to go so hard but this is how they exist in my mind #again a lot of this comes from my friend that I just subscribed too wholeheartedly bc I LOVE IT #text #asks #tigermisty6

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saint-starflicker · 11 months

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Rudolph the Rainbow Reindeer

Spoilers for Fraternity and Handsome Devil ahead, I very highly recommend reading and watching both of these.

There's a Tumblr heritage post going around (I think? Was it from here?) about how the real lesson of the "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" song is that deviation from the norm, no matter how harmless, will be punished unless it can be exploited. That got me thinking about these two.

There's a lot that I like about Handsome Devil: the aesthetics, the pacing, it is Light Academia, it is Snark Academia, it's rugby bros, it's music and essay composition nerds, it's navigating friendships and mentor-protégé relationships between gay main characters instead of romance...and rather than one homophobic age-peer bully who's supposed to outgrow it or you outgrow them eventually, the spotlight is on the homophobic adults as it should be. Oppression is a whole system of power, not only one jerk that strikes you like miniature lightning. Finally, sometimes gay adults and elders fail you: their hard-won life experiences and best advice don't help your situation or apply to it.

It is a well-constructed wholesomely satisfying story. The point of contrast I want to highlight is that the happy outcome in this movie relies on...becoming exploitable. If you let gay boys on the sports team, particularly gay boys that are very good at the sports balls, then your team will win.

Hey, whatever works. Whenever there's an exclusionary thing going on based on something as harmless as Rudolph's Red Nose, then there's a brain drain and brawn drain from those exclusionist communities, there's skill drain and talent drain. Idealistically, that shouldn't be the reason to include people "because they might be useful in other ways" but in terms of practicality then that's how it usually goes: scientists and artists and kind people and resilient people flee persecution and enrich the communities who take them in. If being exceptional in some way is how you keep your head above the water in this crapsack world, then I sure won't stop you.

Contrast that with Fraternity. There's a lot I like about Fraternity: the 1990s nostalgia, the narrative voices, I finished reading it in two days and felt a whole entire Hero's Journey times three, it is the Darkest Dark Academia at its most Gothic like literary bitter ruby chocolate, it's brewski bros, it's witchcraft, it's Angels in America Jr., it's tragic, it's cathartic, it's navigating friendships and mentor-protégé relationships between gay main characters rather than romance...

The main thing that I noticed is no matter how many languages you speak or how emotionally attached you get to your friends (traits which any supervillain worth a lick of salt should know to exploit instead of eliminate, ahem ahem Westcott)—the very powerful point that the Fraternity canon demonstrates is that...in this crapsack world it's ultimately not up to you whether or not you get to live and "be useful" to bigots in positions of power. It's the bigots in power that decide that for you.

Fraternity is well-constructed and satisfying in a different way. Handsome Devil found a reconciliation with broader communities that outvoted a bigot with power, and I'm not going to say that can never happen in real life. Fraternity shows the shadow side of playing the game that way: Evil Wizard Homophobe Headmaster Westcott's fraternity would kill him over a mistake because that's the solidarity of the privileged. Steven Hillman would lay his life down for somebody in his fraternity who he probably never really liked and who hasn't been very nice to him, because that's the solidarity of the oppressed. It still is complicated: Hiss Hiss Bitch is a refrain that takes on layers of meaning and new contexts as the story goes on. In those complications and unflinching examination of the shadow sides, there emerges a deep and moving clarity.

Polar opposite vibes, different attacks on broad in-community (and/or inter-community) issues, different issues that these do tackle—and I enjoy them both and recommend them both. More, please.

#fraternitybook #fraternitybook fandom #handsome devil #handsome devil 2016 #dark academia #light academia #fraternity by andy mientus #poe.txtwall

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one-flower-one-sword · 3 months

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why do you think there were no more creations like ruoye even after Coffin Time? like the stake becoming something similar...

Hi Anon! that's a fantastic question, thank you for sending it!

I honestly don't know if I can give a satisfying answer though - I've been trying to stay within the realm of characters/themes/narrative parallels+contrasts analysis because I don't feel confident enough to speak on the mythology (and philosophy) aspects of the story. for one, I'm not far enough in my learning yet, and also I don't want to talk over people who have the appropriate cultural background and related knowledge. (Of course, these topics are all interconnected and can't be neatly divided, but just to explain why I'm trying to be careful here.)

I don't want to leave you hanging though, so in order to answer I'm going to stick closely to what the text is saying. If I got anything wrong or someone has a more thorough and knowledgeable answer, everyone is free to add/reply to this post with it and help Anon out.

This is what the text is saying regarding Ruoye's origin:

Yet he trailed off when he realized that the white silk he used to cover his face had been untied. He was trussed to the altar by that same white silk [...]

(Vol 6, page 237)

It had been dyed with Xie Lian's blood, had hung two royals to death - if Xie Lian could die, then it would have been three. Saturated with such deep resentment and evil, it would be stranger if it didn't turn into a spirit.

(Vol 6, page 277)

For the stake - or, more precisely, the peachwood nail - we get this:

Xie Lian's heart was pierced by the peachwood nail, and the blood that flowed from the wound dyed the silver mask of the coffin red. [...] Lang Qianqiu had killed him for revenge, and Yong'an's old king had certainly died at Xie Lian's hand. Nailing Xie Lian into the coffin was an eye for an eye. [...] At first, he didn't even try to move a muscle, but later, he felt regret despite himself and pounded wildly at the coffin lid, desperate to break out. In the end, he allowed himself to sink into the boundless darkness once more.

(Vol 8, page 316-319)

So, from this I would extrapolate that it's the presence of strong resentment in Ruoye's case versus the absence of it with the peachwood nail that makes a huge difference. Resentment is one of the strong emotions that keeps ghosts from moving on, or, in Ruoye's case, plays a part in causing an object to develop its own spirit. But Xie Lian doesn't resent Lang Qianqiu for nailing him into the coffin, more than that, he thinks it was a justified "eye for an eye" because of the circumstances of Lang Qianqiu's father's death. Xie Lian lets Lang Qianqiu drive the nail through him, and he doesn't even try to escape at first. Even while suffering tremendously inside the coffin ("there was pain, blood loss, hunger, hallucinations") he never feels resentment for his predicament or the one who did this to him.

The footnote in my edition also explains that peachwood was used to ward off evil, so I would assume it would be a material unlikely or even unable to hold evil and resentment within itself.

By contrast, Ruoye was used to tie Xie Lian down while he was being horrendously tortured and violated, all the while begging for it to stop, and then as a means of suicide by his parents. It plays a part in two of the instances that traumatized Xie Lian the worst and brought out all the emotions within him that drove him to a point where he almost unleashed Human-Face Disease himself. So, the circumstances and the feelings surrounding these two objects are very different, as well as the nature of them by themselves, even though they were both used for violent purposes and drenched in Xie Lian's blood.

Hope that helped answer your question, Anon!

Like I said above though, please don't take my word for gospel since I don't feel all that knowledgeable regarding these topics. If I got something wrong, I appreciate corrections!

(I also don't want anyone to feel discouraged from asking questions though - that's how we all learn after all. If I truly don't feel able to answer, I would still post it so that other people have the opportunity to do so/tag others that I think might be better suited to answer.)

#tgcf #answered asks #ruoye

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transmascwillbyers · 2 years

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I feel like a lot of the people who say that Will's going to die in s5 really don't understand how major character death works from a narrative standpoint. For the vast, vast majority of stories, killing off a character can only happen on three conditions:

The character has already completed their narrative arc, so killing them wouldn't make for an unsatisfying ending

The character dying wouldn't invalidate the progression of their arc- for example, if a character's progression revolves around them redeeming themselves and opening up to/helping other people (i.e., someone like Steve), then it would make sense for them to die because it could make narrative sense for the character's arc (i.e., sacrificing themself, their death becoming a driving force for the characters, etc.)

And finally, the death has to actively move the plot forward in some way, and not just be there for meaningless angst (everything in writing has to have a meaning!)

Back to Will. Let's take a look at the first condition- technically, yes, Will could fulfill his full arc in s5 and die at the very, very end. But once we get to the second condition, things fall apart. Narratively speaking, Will's arc is essentially about recovery. It's about overcoming the trauma he suffered due to the Upside Down, and finding happiness in a world that's continuously screwed him over for the entirety of the series. So, how can his arc be fulfilled and not invalidated if he dies, given that the logical end point for his character is one of happiness and stability? It doesn't make sense, and it would be bad writing if this was his ending.

But finally, I have to ask- in what way would killing Will move the plot forward? What narrative purpose would it serve? No, really. Yes, I do believe there's some scenarios in which this condition could be met- the whole Will = UD Horcrux theory is a good example, and I do think that there's some possibilities in which the death could serve as a good narrative device. But, to be frank, I feel like killing Will would be more of a disservice to the narrative than anything else, simply due to how many different loose threads he represents. If Will dies, what happens to the painting? What happens to the Mike/Will/El triangle? Who else will serve as their connection to the Upside Down? Hell, how are the writers supposed to explain everything that happened with him in the Upside Down, given all the weird stuff and plotholes that's floating around with that? Theoretically, yes, this quota could be met- but, that being said, it would be really hard to do in a narratively satisfying way, especially near the beginning of the season, and the duffers really would be playing with fire if they tried it. Besides, quota two wouldn't be met either, so this whole conversation doesn't really matter, anyway.

Yes, this doesn't always apply to every scenario. There's lots of TV shows that are pretty much famous for randomly killing characters with no regard for anything narratively, and they can make it work, but Stranger Things isn't one of those shows. They've proven time and time again that death matters in the narrative, it isn't just something that they toss around as an idea in the writers' room to spice things up. They even contrasted the show with Games of Thrones! Overall, Will dying just doesn't make sense- for his character, for what he represents, and for the show as a whole.

TL;DR: Will won't die in s5, or I will never trust the Duffers to write anything well ever again. End rant/analysis/whatever the hell this post is.

#stranger things #byler #will byers #it just ain't happening y'all #the rumors are false and i will die on this hill #i have the english nerd cred to back it up!

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doks-aux · 1 year

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Of all the characters that we a) have already met and b) know for sure will be in season 2*, I think Fang is the most likely candidate for a love interest for Izzy. And he’s probably the option I like the most.

They’ve clearly known each other a long time, and there is some level of camaraderie and concern that you can see here and there. Obviously whatever relationship there is to speak of has soured over time. Izzy thoughtlessly yanks on Fang’s beard which Fang particularly doesn’t like (mean), and Fang practically leaps at the chance to gossip about a painful and humiliating moment from Izzy’s past (mean). And of course there’s the whole mutiny thing.** But that isn’t all it is. They seem to get along well on the island in episode two. Fang’s (and Ivan’s) absence in episodes 7 and 8 and return in 9 could*** suggest that he actually left the Revenge after Izzy did and only came back when Izzy did as well. And they seem quick enough to let bygones be on both sides after the interrupted mutiny, and Fang even expresses genuine concern over Izzy’s foot.

There’s more than enough foundation there to build or rebuild something on top of and probably plenty of time and opportunity now that they’re part of Blackbeard’s new, very small, very isolated, fairly traumatized crew. Fang’s lost Lucius (so far as we know he knows) and Ivan (however they write Guz’s absence into the show), and Izzy’s lost pretty much everything plus a toe while trying to convince himself he’s regained everything he wanted. They’re the closest thing the other will have to a friend, at least at the start. I could see Fang trying to reach out to Izzy as the one familiar person he has to lean on, and it would likely take repeated attempts, but Izzy has to break at some point, and Fang is right there to fall to pieces on. Of course, I expect and hope to see them interact and form closer dynamics with Frenchie and Jim as well, but it just seems so narratively logical (and emotionally satisfying) for their relationship, whatever it is and will be, to be explored.

It wouldn’t be a smooth ride (and wouldn’t be as interesting if it was), but I think they could be very sweet together if they let themselves.

*Ivan and Calico Jack, in that order, are the other most likely candidates of the characters we already know (IMOO), but we know Ivan isn’t returning and Jack is likely dead.

**Not on topic at all, but they really went zero-to-sixty on that mutiny thing, right? Like, I guess they cut a lot of stuff out for time, but Izzy was being cringe and bitchy at worst. The Revenge crew put up with Stede’s whole deal for at least weeks, and Fang tolerated having to kill his dog, but Izzy’s little prat fall of a captaincy is what gets them to mutiny in, like, a day? This is why I lean toward the theory of them not actually intending to kill him but just scare and maybe send him on his way.

***Note that I said “could.” There’s nothing concrete to suggest Fang and Ivan’s absence had anything to do with Izzy’s banishment, much less them feeling some kind of way about it when all was said and done. But there’s also no explanation offered or hinted at all. When he goes, they go, and when he’s back, so are they. So it’s as plausible an explanation as any.

#Izzy Hands #Israel Hands #first mate of my heart #Fang #PuppyLove #this is the ship name i'm going with #i've made up my mind #pirates #Our Flag Means Death #ofmd meta #shipping #doc posts pirates

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quetzalpapalotl · 1 year

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tailgate for the character meme!!

You speak so eloquently about Tailgate, it kinda makes me shy, but here we go:

one aspect about them i love Ummm, I don't know how to put this into words, but I really like that, narratively speaking he's just a very well milked character?? Lol, so he bring an outsider perspective that allows us readers learn more about Cybertronians and showcases the way perpetual war has affected them, he also brings a chill to the Lost Light that really sells the setting as just... people hanging out, which is important for certain moments to hit and to balance how character in general have a duality to them of being assholes/capable of horrors and like, just guys. Tailgate's key moment usually are also key for the overall plot. He's also very complex and has a very nice and satisfying arc. The ensemble cast naturally means that characters come in and out of focus, but with Tailgate it never feels like the narrative loses his thread on him whenever we get back to him. I mean, is not as smooth in Lost Light, but that goes for everything in LL so I'm not counting it lol.

one aspect i wish more people understood about them Tailgate is not really as naive as he tends to be portrayed, I think. Like, a lot of the things he is confused about have to do with the fact that he's missing 4 million years of context, like yeah, anyone is gonna look like a fool in that case. And yes, he does get manipulated by Getaway, but the point is that Getaway is good at sweet talking people, not that Tailgate is easily deceived. Getaway specifically catered to what would appeal to Tailgate. Tailgate is not as trustful as to believe anyone and everyone, even before he became hyper sensitive after Getaway. But to be fair, his judgement of people is heavily influenced by how much he likes them and the image he has on them. But still, this is a someone whose first instinct when meeting a bunch of strangers was to lie and he was actually pretty good at it. Like, I can't imagine that someone like that would be unaware that people can lie back to him.

one (or more) headcanon(s) i have about this character Tailgate would kill it at spreadsheets, data organization and other secretarial work, okay? You think he wouldn't, because he's not particulary organized with thins like, where he puts his stuff. But he's very good at retaining written info and also makes notes to keep track of stuff, he's actually pretty good at keeping track of like factual information and remembers and how can we forget the ending of remain in light? I think he ended up being UM assitant for one day for whatever reason (maybe as a punishment for ramming into Rodimus with his hoverboard, who was still kinda pissed at him for throwing the Rodpod that one time, so he decided to enforce the rules and stuck him with the most boring punishment he could think of, UM wasn't happy). Tailgate did such a good job at it, Magnus keeps begging him to keep the position, but Tailgate rejects it because he thinks it would make him look lame.

one character i love seeing them interact with Rewind. I just think they're neat :) Also it's fun how both of them are non-combatants that look really nice but both will throw hands, lol But again, particulary in the early chapters, I think both of them + Swerve do a lot of work to set the tone of Mtmte

one character i wish they would interact with/interact with more Nautica. I think they could have a lot to bond over as people for whom was is foreign being surrounded by all these veterans. Both of them have their feelings disregarded when exposed to The Horros not out of malice, but because everyone else is so used to it that they become desensitized and don't think how it is for other people. I wonder if Tailgate would have been able to provide more comfort for Nautica after Skid's death, I mean he wasn't exactly in the best space at the time, so maybe it wouldn't have been the best. But then again, if Nautica had had someone to help her process her mourning (given that she didn't went to Lotty because of teh circumstances), maybe she wouldn't have gone so far to try to revive Skids.

one (or more) headcanon(s) i have that involve them and one other character Okay, maybe I should have put Whirl up there, because it's crazy how little actual interaction there is between these two. That being said, I believe that Tailgate took a liking to Whirl early on and he's the one who invited Whirl to movie night on issue 7, because like, who else would? No one likes Whirl, CD won't like him until after issue 12. But Whirl is at Tailgate's Autobrand ceremony, to which Tailgate invited "a few close friends and Nutjob", which like, why would he do that, he doesn't have to. I think Tailgate demeans Whirl is his wanting to fit in and everyone dislikes Whirl, but Tailgate personally likes him.

#quetzal rambles tf

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enbyleighlines · 4 months

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Leigh plays Tellius prt 27

It's time to introduce yet another slimy Senator into the narrative, because why not? This time, we have this asshole, a self-righteous fop with a strange fascination with Zelgius. I do love him as a villain, especially his stupid little "Uwee hee hee!" laugh. He's just so much fun to hate.

And I got my first character to tier 3! To no one's surprise, it was Soren. Look at those stats. He is an absolute terror on the battlefield and I would have it no other way.

Time for the Kauku Caves map:The map that was so much fun, they had to bring it back in Engage! And we actually get to see what happened to spineless Septimus after he abandoned his troops at Flagurre. I'm surprised he was still allowed to be a general after that, but then again, nepotism goes a long way in Begnion.

And we get to see Dheginsea, aka Big Granddaddy Dragon. I'll have a lot more to say about him later.

As always, Ike proves himself the funniest guy in Tellius. His deadpan humor always makes me laugh so hard.

And now time for something completely different! At this point, I was starting to forget that Geoffrey and co. were in this game. Also, this stupid map took me way too long to complete. Not because it was difficult, mind you. I actually managed to slaughter the enemy and fend off the reinforcements without losing too many of the ally units. No, my greatest obstacle was getting that stupid hidden item on this map without killing the boss. Marcia just barely managed to pull it off, but man. It was a very long, lengthy process.

Ahaha, shots fired. Geoffrey is such a good malewife, worrying endlessly over his beloved Elincia.

Sanaki is here! The whole gang's coming together at long last.

This moment is just so satisfying, after all the humiliation Valtome put Elincia and Zelgius through. Although, with his strange obsession with Zelgius, I cannot help but wonder if part of Valtome enjoyed this.

REUNITED, AND IT FEELS SO GOOD

Kieran and Oscar are finally in the same party again! Also, I just love this entire conversation so much. Oscar knows exactly what to say to get Kieran to do what he wants.

D'awwww. I wonder if Oscar missed Kieran the past year or so? He seemed so exasperated by Kieran's over-the-top personality in PoR, but in this game he's warmed up to him quite a bit, I'd say.

Speaking of fruit, here we have this fantastic line from Tibarn. And listen. I know it's supposed to be a joke, okay? But it's hinted elsewhere that Tibarn and Reyson share a tent, maybe even a bed, which makes me believe that this joke is not so far off from reality.

Honestly, between 1. Heather, 2. Ike, Soren, and Ranulf, 3. Kyza, 4. Sigrun and Tanith, 5. Kieran and Oscar, and now 6. Tibarn and Reyson, the Tellius duology is so goddamn gay.

Anyway, that's the end of part 27. We're almost in the final stretch of part 3. Ahhh, I'm excited but also nervous...

#leigh plays tellius #fire emblem radiant dawn #radiant dawn #fe10 #tellius

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lollytea · 2 years

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While I love HM/LR, I am slightly miffed that we never got to see Hunter leave the Coven out of his own accord. It's fine because we already saw him regret his actions a bitin ASIAS, but generally speaking I would have found it more interesting if he'd realized/decided for himself that things are wrong (by arresting a wild witch that reminds him of one of the Entrails, or saving a palisman not his own eg) and not by Belos threatening to kill him. This way, he had less of a choice.

That's a legitimate issue to have. Especially considering how Hunter's most deepest wish since he was properly introduced was to decide his own future. So his agency is extremely important to his arc.

But my perspective on how things went down is a little different. To me, the way things have gone for him make sense. I find it narratively satisfying.

One thing we need to keep in mind is how deep Belos' manipulation of Hunter goes. The kid is completely and utterly brainwashed. Hunting Palismen, Eclipse Lake and Hollow Mind lay this out for us and it is extremely disturbing. Hunter has spent his whole life conditioned to not question the morality of his uncle, to the point where he's greatly distressed by the things he sees in HM and is doing mental gymnastics with himself in order to justify it.

Hunter is a good person but the way he's been programmed is not an easy mindset to break out of, impossible even. Its a lifetime of abuse that has completely altered his behavior and beliefs and perception of things.

Hunter needed to be bodied with this hard hurtful truth. He needed the reality of his situation all laid out on the table for him. If this hadn't been the case, he would spend his entire life questioning if he was right to betray his uncle who, all things considered, did love him. (And its shown in Labyrinth Runners, that even after everything he saw, a part of him is still questioning that. Thats how much Belos has completely fucked this kid up!!)

Plus if he were to begin questioning the morality of the Emperor of his own accord, it would be a very slow process that would deserve a lot of time and development. But the Day of Unity is on our asses and season 3 was cut short so *shrugs.*

But yeah. Personally I believe this is the most logical and brilliant way Hunter's deviation could have gone. As bad as it sounds, Belos was the one who made him like this so it makes sense that Belos is the one to break him out of it.

And also its worth mentioning that Hunter's ability to choose still is important to his story and though a lot of things happened against his will, it was still subtly but profoundly present in Hollow Mind.

Belos wanted Hunter dead. But Hunter did not let Belos kill him. Which seems like basic survival instincts but if you take Hunter's whole personality into consideration, it speaks volumes.

Hunter did not submit to what his uncle wanted. Hunter disobeyed. Hunter protected himself. Hunter protected Luz. Hunter was dragged down to the depths of the subconscious by his only family and instead of obediently accepting his fate, he scrabbled to stay alive.

In Eclipse Lake, Hunter expresses how he doesn't want to be replaced. In this episode, he makes it clear that it goes deeper than that. He doesn't want to die.

Because it goes against his wish. Hunter wants a future. And no matter how much Belos has warped him into an obedient little solider, it will never kill the spark in him that wants.

Hunter is alive because he made a choice. We can't let ourselves forget that.

#toh #the owl house #toh hunter

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lyledebeast · 2 years

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Thinking about this interview where Jason Isaacs talks about the influence he had on The Patriot’s script at a time before “the big alpha stars in Hollywood were very eager to police the script to make sure the villain didn’t come across interestingly or powerfully.” Perhaps that change partly has to do with what he did to Mel Gibson, or rather what the filmmakers did to Gibson’s character once they’d accepted Isaacs’ suggestions about the movie’s villain.

In the original script, Tavington main role is as the target of Martin’s vengeance. There is a constant tension for Martin between the militia’s objective of keeping Cornwallis in South Carolina, and his personal agenda of avenging his son’s murder. Meanwhile, Tavington is much more passive and fearful than Isaacs plays him in the movie. Their roles in the prisoner exchange scene are reversed. Martin confronts and threatens Tavington, who does not remember him at first, in the script, while in the movie Tavington chases Martin down as he leaves the fort. Isaacs’ Tavington sees a lot of Martin’s back. Even when he burns down Charlotte’s plantation house in an attempt to capture her and Martin’s children, Martin’s strategy is to lure him away so they can escape, not to try and kill him.

After more rewatches than I want to think about, I’ve concluded that there is no satisfying in canon reason for Martin to wait until the end of the movie to deal with Tavington. I think the filmmakers did that to preserve his Mel Gibson coolness factor. Martin cannot both claim that his violence is just in response to Tavington’s and kill Tavington halfway through the movie. If he’s going to try, he has to fail, and the narrative never presents him as having failed. Not only is Tavington never the target of his violence, but there are only three scenes in which the two men even speak to each other compared with the numerous ones where Martin verbally steamrolls his scene partner or humbly receives their adoration. This movie is constantly telling us how brilliant, loved, and respected Martin is, and conversations with Tavington were never going to accomplish that.

They would have made him a more interesting character, though. As it is, the scenes Gibson and Isaacs share are the most powerful in the movie. Tavington is very good, as many well-written villains are, at playing on the hero’s emotions. Even though he does not always achieve his desired aim, those scenes bring a strong emotional performance out of Gibson. The one where Martin desperately tries to reason with Tavington to spare Gabriel is the only one where I feel any sympathy for him. Both of the other scenes play on Martin’s feelings grief for his dead sons, but they fall a little flat. If Martin had bothered to deal with Tavington when it became clear that he was the main threat to civilians--after he targeted Martin’s children a second time--perhaps he would have only one son to mourn.

Incorporating Isaacs’s suggestions gave Tavington so many qualities the audience is meant to see in Martin. He’s clever, strategic, and powerful. He’s cool. What he lacks is care and love for others and a commitment to a cause that is greater than his own personal desires. The problem is, Martin doesn’t really demonstrate those things either! Maybe the filmmakers should not have worried less about making Martin cool and more about actually making him the good father the audience is meant to believe to see him as. Then maybe we could have had a great movie instead of one just barely made watchable by a delicious villain.

#jason isaacs #the patriot #william tavington #benjamin martin

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transphilza · 2 years

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i'm stealing someone else's meta here sorry to thespoonisvictory but:

one of wilbur's traits has ALWAYS been that he thinks he's in a story, and bound by its rules. we saw this especially in season 1, where he felt so trapped and bound by the role of the villain that he leaned into it in the midst of his mental health crisis, but also with his suicidal ideation. he hinted so many times that he would kill himself in s1, and no one really acknowledged it or pressed him on it besides saying "no youre not going to do that right bestie haha" and i think that on a certain level (aside from the very real suffering he felt) he felt that he had to follow through with that foreshadowing.

he did the same thing here. the difference is: tommy made him say it. he made him say it out loud, and then wilbur could shed the foreshadowing, could instead drop the façades that he's always been building up, and instead just talk about the truth of him: he was never a huge grand guy. he's just a kid from utah. he was a gas station attendant. and he's always been ridiculous- i mean his ghost gave out blue dye, his son is a foxboy and he's part fridge, like. he's always been a bit ridiculous and this is part of that.

he's a serious character with serious feelings who is also ridiculous, and he's absurd, and he breaks his way out of the story like he's breaking out of the truman show. he doesn't have to follow the foreshadowing. he can choose to heal and go home. he's not a villain or a hero or anything anymore. he's just a guy, a kind of ridiculous guy with serious feelings, and i.... i love that about him.

no yeah i totally agree the ridiculousness is great and very fitting for him, it’s just narratively speaking the entire Purpose of foreshadowing is so something Happens, and it’s not just something c!wilbur like… inflicts on himself? like, it’s a real element of storytelling that exists for a reason. i totally agree this silly ending is a great way to portray him breaking out of the cycle of seeing himself as a character bound to a role, that’s a lovely interpretation!!! but for me personally the interactions beforehand did not explicitly address the basic conflicts of c!wilbur’s character enough for me to feel immediately satisfied. i hope that makes sense too! ❤️

#ending discussion #talking #anon

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whileyoureinschoolidothisallday · 10 months

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so okay that one post that I reblogged earlier that was like 'if spiderman and batman swapped worlds they would beat each of their villains asses by the end of the day' has me thinking about that exact scenario, but with Ariana and Midoriya

I feel like their worlds are similar enough that they'd have close to the same initial experience.

Midoriya sees a world with wanted posters of the Unseen--obviously villains--and Panacea are the heroes trying to stop them. Probably tries to intervene with one of the Unseen's raids and forces them to retreat, making Eric swoop in and recruit him as a tool for the Seraphim (if only to eventually capture him so Panacea can study his powers like a bug).

Ariana sees a world where humanity worships all these bloated "superheroes" that are just basically Super Cops so they can live safe, happy lives, and she (throws her middle finger up at them) sees through it immediately. Probably ends up labeled as a vigilante villain by the end of the day, and gains the attention of the League before nightfall if only because A. Shigaraki sees her on the news and thinks she'd be a good addition to the cause and/or B. AFO encourages Shiggy to bring her in because he wants them Death and Destruction powers.

(both Eric and AFO are cold, calculating, manipulative, power-hungry bastards with a single shared philosophy: FUCK them kids. They would see Midoriya/Ariana as gold mines to their plans)

Midoriya would learn the hard way that Panacea were the bad guys, the Unseen would probably have to save him, and then there'd be a very Shonen moment where he apologizes for judging so quickly and then asks how he can help.

Ariana would spend like...two minutes at the League hideout and realize these are incredibly unwell/traumatized individuals abandoned by society, much like her own group, and the only reason most of them are getting further and further into dark shit is because of Shiggy, and he's only doing it because of AFO. Two very similar thoughts form in her head: Likes the League, hates authority. AFO must go.

Midoriya has the bright and trustworthy charisma of a good hero that the traumatized masses of the Chaos universe cling to--when he speaks, it reminds them of the same calm they get from Panacea, so he can cut through the propaganda and get more and more civilians to believe--or at least doubt Panacea's narrative--that the Unseen aren't a threat, thus greatly weakening the authoritarian orgs' power. He gets the sparkling Public Opinion win!!!!!

Ariana actually knows how to speak and understand the villains as an Undesirable of Society herself and makes genuine connections with them all, all the while casually dropping hints and pushing them-- -cough- shiggy -cough--toward a coup of AFO. There's either a plan made where Ria starts working with the heroes as a middle man for the League, where information about AFO is given in exchange for negotiated changes in society (and the League's freedom obvs) OR she simply just helps them kill him, as is her specialty. Either way, she digs deep into her Sonic and Magical Girl roots and gets the (Super) Power of Friendship win!!!!!!!!!!!

They both high five each other for a great day's work and everybody gets to go home satisfied and safe for once!!!! =D

#real life with risa #x-men but anime #my ocs #Ria is the best friend Toga needs I'll die on that hill #she's painting her nails and listening to her gush about midoriya and uraraka in my head as we speak #and in turn Ria can gush about Sabin for once without worrying about who might hear!!!!!!!!!!!#and get an enthusiastic response even!!!!!!!!#I need to make more posts like this

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