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bonefall · 2 months

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.. opinions on wind runner? i feel like im one of the only ones that genuinely hates her sometimes

If you feel like the only one who genuinely hates her, I think you need to look around more. Wind Runner is a very widely disliked character, because she's often used within the story as a small antagonist who "threatens" the authority of Tall Shadow. Gray Wing dislikes her. Thunder is openly cat-racist to her. She spends several books trying to break through the moor cats' xenophobia to join a group that came to HER LAND.

Then, when Moth Flight is old enough to be a relevant character in Forest Divided, Wind Runner is turned into Yet Another mean mom the very moment Moth displays ADHD. She's contrasted to her mate Gorse Fur, who is a Soft And Good Dad, and ultimately MASSIVELY punished with the harrowing events of Moth Flight's Vision (even though, for most of that book, she's completely right.)

Ask yourself why they're especially harsh on WIND RUNNER for being mean to her child, in the arc with Tom the Fucking Wifebeater and his redemption death, plus Thunder being forced to stop being mad at his abuser Clear Sky, please.

To me, Wind Runner is an intense, ambitious woman who's demonized for it in a way that men just aren't. She's subject to several misogynistic trends within WC, plus a huge helping of xenophobia that goes absolutely unexamined. If DOTC cared at all about women, it would have treated her with the nuance she deserves.

Wind Runner is treated with nearly endless suspicion by Gray Wing through books 1 - 3, while he's bending over backwards to suck Clear Sky's toes.

Her wanting to join the group that came TO HER HOME and being a bit pushy about it earns a stronger reaction from Gray Wing than Clear Sky murdering people.

She's pressured into changing her name "to fit in," and it's still not enough. She wanted to join the group so bad she changed her name, at the request of the Mountain Cats, for a chance of being better accepted

This came after she'd already saved Jagged Peak's life when a burrow collapsed on him. She's plenty trustworthy.

She keeps doing shit to try and prove herself to this group of assholes. Remember Bumble being dragged back to her domestic abuser? Gray Wing interprets this as a power struggle, when WIND RUNNER WAS NOT EVEN PART OF THE GROUP AT THE TIME.

From Wind Runner's POV, she did something that the Moor cats wanted done. It was fucking evil. It was committing violence against another member of the out-group the cats see her as.

But who actually has the power here? Tall Shadow does.

Gray Wing said it himself that she could have come up with some excuse for Bumble to stay, and she didn't. In fact, any cat could have spoken up. No one did.

and still. STILL. Wind Runner gets nothing. Her reward is Gray Wing surmising that actually, her doing their sick dirtywork was a political move.

It's more consistent as a motivation with how Wind Runner wants to join their group. The thing she's been doing.

She only actually gets to join the group after Thunder starts publicly hurling slurs at her for suggesting they need to be ready for Clear Sky to attack them. "What do you know about peace? Last time I was here you were NOTHING BUT A ROGUE WITH A ROGUE'S NAME"

Gray Wing even starts purring when she gives birth, because her ambition goes away briefly and she "stops bossing everyone around." this is treated like a sweet thing. god forbid women retain their personalities when they have kids

She loses her first premature child to a seizure and Gray Wing starts proselytizing his religion to her. "Maybe it's a good thing your weakest child died because Jesus has them now" I want to beat him with a hammer

When her second child gets sick, Clear Sky has a bright idea that involves killing it. I refer to this as his "reverse leper colony" suggestion. He only develops a sense of humanity towards the sick when his brother's pregnant wife is in danger. Wind Runner and her kitten barely seem to clock as people to him.

It's only after her SECOND baby succumbs to a horrible, painful death that she decides the moor cats are assholes, and she goes to start her own group. It's LONG overdue. I was extremely excited to see it.

Now. Listen.

I've been treated just like Moth Flight before. I've practically heard the scolding in Book 6 Chapter 3 verbatim. I'm not downplaying anything about Wind Runner being harsh to her; being yelled at like that never fixed the problem.

What I'm saying is that this is the SAME arc that summons the hollowed-out ghost of Storm to coo that Clear Sky "never drove anyone away" with his abusive behavior and gives Tom the Wifebeater a heroic redemption death.

So why is the scolding from Wind Runner treated as unambiguously harsh? What's the difference between her and them?

Why is it that outside of this little bubble of the community, you can get buried in a flood of people crying about how "Clear Sky made Summisteaks Butt he thought it was the right thing :((( He feels bad about shoving Thunder's face in a weeping, pus-filled wound and trying to kill him :((((" but Wind Runner is mean about Moth Flight not catching a rabbit and she should be skinned alive

Why is WIND RUNNER held responsible for the death of Clear Sky's child in Moth Flight's Vision, WHEN IT WAS COMPLETELY HIS OWN FAULT??

So, why should I hate her? Because she's mean to the idiot protagonists? Because she's Yet Another Bad Mom whose actions ARE treated as Bad in the story, in the arc famous for openly weeping whenever someone's mad at their abusive dad?? When she has this whole horrific, unexamined story about how incredibly bigoted The Settlers are towards her and the extremes she goes to in order to please them?

I'm glad she's mean, actually. She should have been even meaner. I think she should have a gun

#so anon I am very sorry #Uou are going to the Shadow Realm #I am the patron saint of every woman in wc #but especially the ones in dotc #because that arc does them so fucking dirty #Wind Runner can be as mean as she wants I support her #The Settlers deserve it actually #Wind Runner #Windstar #Warrior Cats Analysis #also again everything wind runner has ever done that was mean was done worse by clear sky #but clear gets off with a slap on the wrist. IF that.#while Wind Runner gets her leg sickeningly snapped on screen as several paragraphs detail her growing fever and horrible agony #before the magic of JesusClan heals her and bestows her lives upon her #Guys getting hurt in WC: ''owie''#Girls getting hurt in WC: (you can hear the writer breathing heavily through the 6 paragraphs of prose they use to describe her injury)#..........also. to put into perspective just how fucking bad the misogyny in this arc is;#there are only 4 female characters in Book 1 who survive to the end of Book 6. Besides some cameo cats who exist in the tribe #Wind Runner is one of them. The other three are Settlers.#I won't even say their names lol. Can you even remember who all three of the other ones are #warrior cats analysis

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creedslove · 9 months

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there’s a certain scenario in my head that I think you’d like hearing about.

you’re dating/married to joel, and you both take Sarah to the aquarium. while she’s mesmerized with the fish and other sea animals, joel sneaks a hand through your dress and slides your panties to the side, fingering you right there, in the aquarium, telling you to be quiet and a good girl.

No outbreak!Joel Miller x f!reader

A/N: you're completely right anon, I LOVED this scenario, I loved it so much I couldn't help to think about it all.day.long and now I had to turn it into a dirty headcanon because I can't stop myself 😭 I hope you like it ❤️

When you and Joel were dating, you would often take Sarah to the aquarium, she absolutely loved that place and it didn't matter if she'd been there hundreds of times, she would still get thrilled and fascinated by all the animals

In fact, the very first time you had a family date with Joel and Sarah, you guys went to the aquarium, it'd been a special day for the three of you, because you felt accepted by Sarah, Joel was sure you would be the right fit for the family, and Sarah was glad his dad's new girlfriend was nice to her

And quickly the aquarium became a family thing, if it were up to Sarah, she'd go there at least once a month, and she never wanted to go with only her dad or uncle Tommy, she wanted you to be there because you were part of the family

After you and Joel got married, you still went to the aquarium frequently, but as the time went by Sarah got interested in other things, Joel didn't want to admit but he got a little sad, as he interpreted that as his little girl growing up

But one day she asked him if you three could go to the aquarium again, and he immediately said yes, relieved to see that maybe his little Sarah wasn't all grown up yet

And then the three of you woke up early and headed for the Aquarium, but you just to pick that summer dress and make Joel's trip turn into hell

He didn't know how to explain, he supposed it was a nice dress because a lot of people - Sarah included - it complimented you on your dress, but to Joel it was just driving him crazy

There was something about how it hung to your body in the right places, and it was short and tempting, because you looked so innocent, but all he could think of was feeling you up under that dress

So the drive to the aquarium was long and torturous, of course he still placed his hand on thigh and stroked it softly, but it was very innocent, as his daughter was just right there

So once you got to the aquarium, Sarah was once again mesmerized, she just loved that place and she already knew it by heart, walking all over the place, being so attentive to the animals

In the meantime, Joel walked next to you, his hand protectively touching you all the time, either placed on the small of your back or his arm wrapped around your waist

You and Joel walked into one of the final halls of the aquarium, the lights were dim so people could properly appreciate the animals swimming around, but Joel only had his eyes on someone: you

He would start by rubbing your ass under the dress, which caught you by surprise and you sort of jumped, looking at him with wide eyes

"What are you doing, Joel?"

He chuckled and kissed you, as he pressed your body against the wall, in a darker corner and squeezed your ass, making you whimper and groan into his mouth

Without any warning, he shifted his hand to your thighs, groaning at the feeling of your painfully thin panties and Joel could bet his life you were matching colors

He tries touching your pussy, but you widen your eyes and hold his wrist in place

"Not here, Joel, we can't…"

He scoffs at how you look around worried someone will walk on the two of you

"This place echoes, if someone is coming we'll hear the steps…"

You still aren't convinced, so you still hold his wrist with a strong grip, even digging your nails into his skin softly, so he knows you mean it

But Joel only laughs and tilts his head

"You've always been such a good little wife for me and now you're gonna act up? Come on, darling, be a good girl for your husband"

He nuzzles your neck, his beard scratching down your skin and you whimper softly, finally letting go of his wrist

Joel's fingers pull your panties to the side, his thick fingers feeling your slit parting to reveal your clit and how he strokes it softly, dragging moans from you

He runs his finger up and down your slit, spreading your wetness and going a little further into your pussy hole, stretching you up with his thick finger before adding a second one

You ask Joel to stop because it's dangerous and you're worried someone will walk in even if he's super chill and relaxed about it, he doesn't stop and he doesn't slow down either, two fingers deep into you and his thumb teasing your clit until he feels your internal walls clenching around his fingers

You cum all over his hand but Joel isn't satisfied yet, he helps you straighten your dress and takes you to the restroom, fucking you in one of the stalls, loving how you looked being fuck in your pretty dress and how you obediently took all of his cum inside

When you two finally left the restroom, you were holding hands and Sarah was looking for the two of you, asking where'd you been. Joel chuckled and told her he was distracted by a beautiful mermaid he spotted in the aquarium

Sarah rolled her eyes as you blushed softly, wrapping your arm around Sarah's shoulder and asking her to show you her favorite fish just like she did the first time you all went to the aquarium together ❤️

_____

A/N: what do I have to do in order to be Joel's wife? 😭

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antianakin · 2 months

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@theneutralmime

I guess that depends on what you mean by weird or difficult to understand.

I think the dialogue is sometimes pretty clunky, I think it's aged really badly in some places, I think sometimes Lucas didn't explain things as well as maybe needed to for a primarily Western audience. But I don't think it's IMPOSSIBLE to understand, either. It's made for children to be able to understand the story and I think he managed that perfectly fine. I think by and large that the intended audience of the Prequel films understood what the story was. They know that the Jedi are the good guys and Anakin's the bad guy even if he seems nicer at the start. It's mostly adults who pick apart the Prequels and find it too clunky to be understood.

I think that Lucas's writing strength is not necessarily in his dialogue, but I also think he WAS intentional with what dialogue he chose and that there's reasons for why characters speak the way they do or say the things they do. Anakin is bad at flirting and awkward because he wanted Anakin to come off as a whiny teenager. This was entirely intentional. You can discuss whether making Anakin a whiny teenager was a good choice or not, but I think he succeeds at making Anakin feel like a whiny, bratty nineteen year old with like little to no ability to be suave.

I think it's possible that popular fandom interpretations of the Prequels have made it difficult to view them the way Lucas intended. It became SO widely accepted that the Prequels were about the Jedi being corrupt that it was nearly impossible to understand them any other way, and it DID take reading several essays on the dialogue and the different interviews Lucas had where he explained some of it for me to change my perspective on it. But that might be less of a problem of the film and its dialogue being weird on its own and more of a problem of fandom interpretations becoming so popular that they manage to overwrite my own understanding of the films. Also, if you're a more casual fan of the films, like I was before a couple of years ago, you're not necessarily looking up interviews where Lucas discusses these things or watching the films with his audio commentary on to hear him talk about certain scenes, so if a certain fandom interpretation is accepted as the truth and starts to spread, you might end up more familiar with THAT than you are with the things Lucas has said that counteract it.

One of the things I needed essays to help me with was attachment, because I DO think that Lucas failed to make sure that his definition of it was made clear to an audience that would've had a very different association with the word already. That being said, I think he DOES make the THEME clear within the story, about selfishness and greed and an inability to let go and how burning the world for the people you love is bad and how you can always choose to be bad but you can always choose to be good again too. I don't think the themes that Lucas was going for in his films are honestly that weird or different from what we OFTEN see in films in Hollywood. The concept of "letting go" is literally everywhere. It crops up in SO MANY films, especially in films aimed at the same demographic, but even films aimed at a more adult audience, too. It's an incredibly basic and popular theme and it's not hard to pick up in his films.

But I think people heard the word "attachment" and it flipped them out because the word attachment is basically equivalent to "relationship" or "love" most of the time in more Western media (see literally any Jane Austen film, they use the word a lot in there) and so they came to the conclusion that the Jedi forbid relationships and love entirely and then it led them to the conclusion that the Jedi were corrupt and THAT'S why Anakin fell to the dark side. That one word being tossed into the dialogue without adequate clarification on how Lucas was defining it had a cascade effect on people's ability to understand the story within the Prequels.

For example, there IS a parallel between Anakin's fall and the corruption of an institution in the Prequels, so people are picking up on something that DOES EXIST in the films, they're just applying it to the wrong institution. It's not the Jedi Order that parallels Anakin's corruption, it's the SENATE. But because people applied the corruption thing to the Jedi, they ended up dismissing the Senate as just already evil because it became the Empire later and it just becomes yet another way to blame the Jedi for things because they were working for an inherently evil organization and either didn't care or were too blind to realize it. So you can see how a misunderstanding of one word in one line of dialogue in one film ended up changing the entire understanding of the films.

But to a kid watching the movies, the word attachment might not yet be something they're familiar enough with to misunderstand. They might just gloss over that line of dialogue the way they would anything that involved a word they didn't totally understand and just rely on the visuals and music and other dialogue to lead them to the correct conclusions. Kids watching these films are capable of picking up that OF COURSE the Jedi are the good guys the whole time, of course they're not corrupt monsters, everything in the films made it very clear that they're the good guys. And it's a lot easier to pick up on the real themes of the story and the way the films are telling it when you start from that conclusion.

So, for me, when I was first reading those essays about what attachment meant in Star Wars and what Lucas had said about it, it didn't feel like I was getting a whole new understanding of the story so much as things were FINALLY slotting into place with what I'd understood as a child. My feelings about the Prequels and the story I'd gotten from them had never really aligned with what everyone else seemed convinced was true, but I'd never met anyone else who saw them positively before, so I'd just assumed if I liked them then it was because I'd watched them incorrectly, that I only liked them because I'd been shown the Prequels first when I was really young whereas everyone else had watched the Original Trilogy first. For me, reading these different interpretations of the Prequels that showcased a very different story than the one most people knew about wasn't NEW (not precisely anyway), it was just VALIDATING. There was a REASON I'd liked them before, a reason I still DID like them as an adult, even though everyone around me seemed to hate them and believe unequivocally that they were terrible films.

So is some of the dialogue weird? Sure, it's clunky sometimes, and there are things that aren't made clear enough, but I don't think Lucas was RELYING on his dialogue to get his story across. He's said before that in some ways he views Star Wars as silent films and the dialogue that's in it is more like music. The story isn't told through the dialogue for him, it's told through the visuals and the dialogue itself is secondary. And this works out fine when you're a kid who's used to dialogue sometimes not being understandable anyway and so you're more reliant on visuals and music to help you figure out the story, but the adults who were watching it were more used to relying on the dialogue to tell them everything they needed to know and so these films fell short. So while I do think the dialogue was flawed, I don't think it really hinders understanding of the story Lucas was trying to tell, but popular fandom interpretations of the films becoming the ONLY interpretation of the films DOES hinder understanding of that story.

#star wars #prequel trilogy #star wars prequel trilogy #star wars prequels #george lucas #attachment

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1863-project · 9 months

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One of the reasons I really don’t engage much with fandom spaces at all these days is just how much casual ableism there is in fandom spaces, a lot of which is internalized ableism. And unfortunately, when you try to explain this to people, they often don’t want to hear it or accept that the ideas they’ve latched onto are actually often pretty harmful to people in the real world.

An example, one of many: people have had theories on N being a Zoroark since Black and White first came out in 2010. That was ableist then, and it’s ableist now - the changeling myth is thought to be rooted in children turning out to be neurodivergent (especially autistic), and if you’re looking at a human character that feels neurodivergent-coded and going “What if they’re not human?” it’s...well, neurodivergent people are already dehumanized in the real world. We’re so often treated as less than human that having a character who comes across as neurodivergent suddenly being not human can feel like a slap in the face to our own humanity.

(Ironically, neurodivergent people often found representation in non-human characters before human characters with neurodivergent traits started popping up in media - this goes back at least to the half-human, half-Vulcan Spock in Star Trek, and possibly far, far further. But that’s a topic for another time.)

Every time I see a character who feels pretty damn neurodivergent, I also see a wide chunk of the fandom interpret their neurodivergent traits really negatively, and it hurts. I don’t engage with the Submas fandom anymore outside of answering people’s train questions that they bring to me because enough people in said fandom looked at Emmet, a character who is more like me than any other fictional character I’ve ever seen in my life, and decided he was scary and unhinged, creepy because of the way he talks when he isn’t close to someone, potentially violent because of his intensity. He’s none of these things, he’s just one of the most autistic characters to ever be written. But the damage was done, because when I saw people treating a character just like me like that...well, it basically told me how they saw me, too.

I graduated high school way, way back in 2007. Some of the people on this website now weren’t alive back then. I wouldn’t get my autism diagnosis for two more years, and all I knew was that I was somehow different from the kids around me, and so many of them had bullied me for this. I was treated horribly because I was intense about my interests, talked differently, walked differently, and acted differently from them. It more or less went on for my entire time in school before I got to undergrad. That shit stays with you. I had this notion that this was how everyone saw me, and that still sits in the back of my mind in my 30s. It’s actually one of the things that prevents me from trying dating, because my bullies were primarily my male peers growing up. It was so important for me to see Ingo and Emmet being themselves and being accepted as themselves, because it meant that maybe people could accept me, too. Except then PLA dropped, and a bunch of new people came rushing in...and enough of them reacted in ways similar to how my bullies did when I was younger, so I had to disengage because it hurt too much.

And the cycle continues with every new character that takes the stage. Nemona debuted in Scarlet and Violet, and once you get more of her backstory in the later game and eventually the postgame you realize she sounds like a neurodivergent person surrounded by neurotypicals. I’ve seen headcanons of autism, ADHD, and a few other neurodivergencies, all of which were definitely people relating to her experiences with their own - Geeta even introduces the “weird girl” to the “new kid” at the beginning of the game in the hopes that she’ll make a friend, a common experience for neurodivergent kids growing up. But then I started seeing people calling her a yandere, and they weren’t joking, and I knew that people who related to Nemona who saw that were going to feel hurt the way I did with people taking Emmet’s autistic traits so negatively.

Fandom spaces tend to be online bubbles, so to speak, and people don’t often realize the impact that these attitudes have in the real world. It’s important for people to have representation and see themselves in the media they interact with, because that’s extremely affirming and validating. Seeing a fictional character just like you being accepted for who they are goes a long, long way when you’re being bullied for who you are in your real life. When you see a bunch of people looking at those harmless traits of yours that people bully you for and interpret them in ways that portray you as scary, creepy, or even unhinged and dangerous...it does damage.

I think about people with psychosis. I think about how media has portrayed them throughout the ages, and how stigmatized they are as a result. I think about people with personality disorders, about people with OCD (of which I’m one myself), about autistic people and ADHD people and people with Tourette’s and other tic disorders, about plural people/systems...the list can go on, and on, and on, and this post doesn’t even touch upon physical disabilities and how ableist fandom spaces can be to them, too (cons being physically difficult to navigate are just one challenge of many they face). I think about how desperate we’ve all been to see ourselves as characters - nuanced characters that feel like real people, not caricatures. The days of the “evil, unhinged schizophrenic” need to be over. We know people with disabilities and mental illnesses are more likely to be victims of violence than perpetrators; we have so many studies affirming this. And yet the rest of the world is taking a long time to catch up on this.

Sometimes, you’re 12 years old and you make an edgy OC who wears a straitjacket because they like to stab people, and then you get a little older and you realize that was pretty ableist and you grow and change as a person. That’s normal - you’re learning about the world around you and learning how to be more kind. But if someone who’s out there in the real world explains why something is ableist towards their disability or mental illness, and they provide examples, that’s not the moment you double down and act like you can do no wrong and that everything you’ve written is fine. It’s supposed to be a learning moment for you, a chance to step back and try to do better. And this especially applies to internalized ableism - like I said, so many fandom spaces are heavily neurodivergent, and the internalized ableism I’ve encountered in fandom spaces has grown substantially with the rise of social media. Sometimes the call is coming from inside the house, and we need to be mindful of how we’re portraying people like ourselves, too.

I think it’s a good idea to really try to be aware as we engage with others in fandom spaces and try not to perpetrate harmful stereotypes or portrayals, and becoming more thoughtful and nuanced about how we depict characters is a big part of that. If you’re writing something edgy just for yourself, that’s for you, and you don’t really have to think too hard about it. But if you’re sharing it in a public space, remember that anyone can encounter it, and it might do damage you’re not really thinking about. It’s important to remember that the internet is a public space, too, just like the places we go in real life, and that we should carry ourselves the way we would if we were interacting in person - we need to try to be respectful, and accept feedback and improve things when we accidentally aren’t.

As an extra reminder, here’s a great graphic from Sonny Jane Wise on Instagram that shows just how many things fit under the neurodivergent umbrella:

Please do your best to do no harm, but if you accidentally do, please listen to the people who are being harmed and want to help you do better.

#ableism #tw: ableism #fandom ableism

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laughing-with-god · 2 months

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Last question for now (apologies!)

What are the personal like… styles/ vibes of their homes? Or like, how would they decorate the inside of it? Or would they at all?

(me personally, if I just won the Hunger games, the first thing I'm doing is an AD Open Door Victor's Village edition lmao)

(( Author's Note : Don't be sorry, I love questions like these! It helps me attach visuals to characters which is really fun. For this, I pulled some Pinterest pics and did some light research on the districts, but also feel free to interpret/imagine what you feel is right!!))

Jin

I picture that the Victor homes vary depending on their district, which would make sense considering the districts are in different landscapes so not all homes can be built the same

For District One, I picture little mansions with lots of glass walls for natural light. This district is apparently in the center of the U.S. (Wyoming, Idaho, Utah) so I can see some natural materials, sun roof windows, low and wide mid-century modern houses

I think stylistically, Jin would decorate his home with lots of white and browns, a colorful rug or accent furniture here and there, but he doesn't overdo it in fear of being tacky

fireplace is probably boarded up for um, obvious reasons (war flash backs lol)

I think his favorite part of his home is the kitchen. In the games, starvation was especially tough on him, so now I think he seeks comfort in food. I can see him taking cooking classes or hiring a personal chef, maybe even throwing dinner parties.

If you were to move in with him, I think he'd be okay with you changing whatever you wanted, as long as he gets to keep all his fancy kitchen appliances

Namjoon

I dont think he'd care a lot about the style of his home, I also see him rarely being there since he has so much work to do in the capitol

District Three is apparently in the midwest, and there's lots of factories that make high end technology for the capitol

Therefore, I think the victor homes there would be simple, modern/industrial condo-style homes? Lots of grays and blacks with granite accents.

I don't think Namjoon would go out of his way to purchase furniture or decor, just accepting the furnishings it already came with. He's not a sentimental guy and a part of him is always aware that his home is technically the capitol's property, not his.

I think a cool highlight of his home would be the technology. Like his tv is just a hologram or there's just some cool tech that locks all the doors and turns on the lights on at once. other disctrict victors don't even get that, it's just district three since they rule technology

If you were to move in, Namjoon would gladly welcome any change in decor, letting you know that he never saw the point before you

Jimin

So I personally feel like District Four would make more sense in a tropical place like Florida or something, therefore I feel like there would be a "jungle/beachouse" vibe to the victor homes here

Victors row would be in a vegetated area of four, not too far from the water. I don't see the capitol wanting to have victors living right on the coast since that's most likely reserved for shipments, boating, fishing and yeah....the water is probably heavily monitered in case people get ideas...

Jimin more or less kept everything the same, though he did let his desinger team go crazy with the jungle concept

I can see Jimin liking the color green and also taking care of plants, since he's pretty lonely back at Four it gives him a little sense of innocent purpose

Again, he's def more at the Capitol than here tho, often times this feels more like a vacation home

All the guest rooms get used as extra storage for all the gifts he received from capitol women. hopes to one day fill them with kids tho :(

If you were to move in, Jimin would be estatic and gladly join in any renovation plans. He'd want to be included in the choices, pick the wrong wallpaper even and he'd be pissy about it lol

Hoseok

District Eight is full of factories and textiles, so I see victor's homes being industrial condos with brick walls, exposed pipes and wooden beams

Hoseok will try to decorate and make it feel cozy, just for the sake of his siblings though

I feel like he probably gave his siblings the bigger rooms and took one of the smallest in the home

Anything his little brothers or sisters want, it's theirs no question asked

I can see him becoming a little home maker honestly. He wakes his siblings up in the morning, makes them breakfast, sends them to school, then comes back home and cleans their rooms / common spaces, does some grocery shopping, laundry ect. ect.

It's very cute and mother hen of him but he really just can't handle freetime bc then his mind wonders to dark places...

so he throws himself into caring for his siblings

If you were to move in with him, he'd welcome you and any changes you might want to have on the common spaces, but obvi is protective of his siblings' stuff.

Yoongi

Six is said to be highly populated and overly dense, borderline too many people live here. I picture it as a city too, transportation being their main hub so there's probably even a subway system

Therefore I think the captitol would make a victor buidling or something. District Six doesnt have many victors and the place is already so dense, I think a good solution would be to make one big high rise of apartments where all the living victors have their own units

Yoongi probably threw away everything in the apartment

I can see him having some chairs and a single bed. prob doesn't even have a tv bc keeps breaking them in rage every time the capitol makes an "announcement" lol

Fridge is also always empty. Boy can go days without eating so it doesn't even occur to him to have groceries on hand

Pics below are what the place should look like, before he fucked it up

If you were to move in, good luck on even hanging up a single picture. Give it a week before Yoongi flies into another rage and rips everything to shreds.

Taehyung

I think District Eleven victor homes would be like large, farmhouses on hills away from the rest of the town

I picture feilds upon feilds in this district, since it's all about farming so it's probably very big in terms of land

I also don't think the capitol had many of these houses made, correctly assumming that Eleven wouldn't have many victors

I think Taehyung actually loves his home, quite liking the simplicity and size of it

I can see him starting a little garden in the back yard, or even getting some chickens to keep him busy

He probably would read to his mother too, he most likely set her up in the master bedroom and waits on her hand and foot

If you were to move in, he wouldn't mind little changes here and there. But at his core, he is a minimalist and would rather you not clutter up his space. Don't you two (three including his mom lol) have everything you need already? There's no shame in the simple life.

Jungkook

District Two is up in the mountains! Very cold and harsh winters, thin air but I'd imagine its very beautiful

The homes here are built in luxury cabin style at the base of the mountains. District Two also has the most victors, so I imagine their victors' village is quite the neighborhood

Jungkook is fond of the views he gets from his home. I think he'd like hiking too so he enjoys the proximity to nature

As for the interior, Jungkook doesn't really care. I know, most of the victors on this list don't care but like, kill 23ish kids in a game and ig it puts things into perspective lol

Like Yoongi, all he really needed was a good bed and he'd be okay. I don't think he got rid of the furniture the capitol provided, but he doesn't have an opinion on it either

If you were to move in, Jungkok would just hand you the cash to buy whatever decor you want, just as long as it's not "too girly"

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anthropwashere · 5 months

Text

I've gotten two letters from my mom since my aunt died last month and they've both been just. So, so aggressively manipulative. Y'all can skip this post. I'm not looking for sympathy likes/replies. I just need a good rant and sometimes it does pay to yell into the Tumblr void.

Still—still!—she insists I have never told her why I refuse to speak to her anymore. She has the receipts on this, going all the way back over a decade ago to my early 20s when I conceded to communicate to her solely through e-mails. That avenue of communication ended with me blocking her pretty much everywhere online after she called me a sociopathic bitch on a public platform family, friends, and coworkers followed me on. Very cool of her, very mature.

(If memory serves she was arrested shortly thereafter. Pity it wasn't for something more serious than, jeez, I can't be assed to remember. Something to do with her driver's license? I know she asked me for a couple grand about it and cussed me out when I told her my baby Airman ass literally did not have the money even if I were inclined to help her.)

Every single letter she sends me includes a brief tangent about how she's been watching YouTube videos about estranged families (both sides! she always includes the both sides!). She always says she wants to understand but she can't because I've never told her why I refuse to talk to her anymore.

How many phonecalls, how many HOURS, have I wasted crying in rage and despair as I try to tell her all the ways she hurt me, physically and emotionally and mentally, before I realized she'd never accept it? That she would always, always try to gaslight me like this? That she'd give me that guileless, wide-eyed and furrowed brow anxious stare and that high, plaintive goddamn voice. That she'd convince me time and time and time and time again that maybe, maybe I'm overreacting?

This most recent letter was a real treat. She went out of her way to say she wasn't trying to guilt trip me, really, but she's JUST lost both her sisters AND her parents in the last year and she's terrified she might die soon next so WHY won't her ONLY DAUGHTER just TALK to her? 😭

So, firstly. I can only speak for myself and my interpretations of what my extended family will feel, but I'm pretty goddamn sure we're all gonna CHEER when she finally fucking kicks the bucket. Ain't nobody gonna miss her when she croaks. Even if her sisters outlived her that'd be the same. My only complaint when she does die is that I'm gonna insist on paying for all of the funerary expenses because she's already leeched too goddamn much from the rest of the family. No way is anyone gonna pay for her bullshit one last time, even if that means paying folks back with interest after I fly back to California. And you can be sure I'm gonna go out of my way to take the cheapest route possible at every opportunity out of spite. This woman doesn't deserve better than the bare minimum. That's all she's ever given everyone else after all.

Secondly, I will concede the fact that yes, she's lost both her sisters in the last year, not even a full year apart from each other. And that sucks! It's extremely fucking sad! My aunts raised me as much as she did, and they both sure as hell paid for more of my childhood needs than she ever did. I was able to afford to go to my younger aunt's funeral last year, but even with the surprise disability backpay I got this year I've been dealing with a lot of owning-a-100+-year-old house expenses (such as replacing the entire goddamn original roof) this year, so I genuinely couldn't make the trip for my older aunt's funeral. Two family members offered to pay for my flight and I just couldn't accept that kindness because I grew up watching my mom take and take and take and take from the family.

THIRDLY HOWEVER.

Her mom, my maternal grandma, died TWENTY YEARS AGO. Her dad, my maternal grandpa, died THIRTY YEARS AGO. And she hated her parents! She fucking loathed them! I spent more of my childhood being her psychologist instead of her goddamn child; ALL I HEARD ABOUT was how much she hated and resented her parents. This is THE first time I've heard her trot them out since I lived with her back in the 00s, and it might damn well be the first halfway-positive mention of them since long before that? This is so transparent an act I can't help but be insulted that she'd think I'd take the bait? Using the LITERAL DEATHS of others to try to goad me into talking to her?

Like. Jesus. Last year at my younger aunt's funeral just about every single member of the California-centric family pulled me aside to ask if my mom was being too much. My aunt's CHILDREN, damn near non-functional with grief, asked if I needed help handling my mom. And there were a couple occasions where I damn near admitted yeah! She's being too much! She won't stop fucking touching me! She won't stop making her sister's death about herself! And here she is, a year later, doing the same goddamn thing again with her other sister's death!

She's a manipulative, gaslighting abuser who refuses to grow up and accept responsibility and/or repercussions for her actions despite being in her late-60s. She gleefully twists the knife into whoever she can get her hands on and acts SO distraught and SO betrayed when people find fault with her actions and behavior. I don't know a single person who knows her to like her anymore once she's shown her true colors, and somehow she's still convinced she isn't the problem.

What a waste. What a fucking waste.

#toxic relationships #days before i went to basic training she told me she was either going to become a nun or kill herself #because she didn't know how to live without me #that was not remotely the first time she threatened suicide to keep me in line #nor the last #sorry. sorry. this rant got bigger than i expected.#anger has been percolating #i try to let go of parent-bullshit as much as possible as a direct middle finger to how i was raised #but sometimes i just gotta lay it all out and gesture violently at it all #i'm not crazy! she's awful! she's really awful! fuck this person right out of my life! die faster please!#cousin if you see this post i'm doubly not looking for sympathy from you.#i'm ranting and petty and speaking in broad terms because i almost always speak in broad terms when ranting about shit on this site

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tobiasdrake · 6 months

Text

Before going to look for the team, I have a handful of FTEs saved up that I want to pop. So I'm going to warp time and space to go hang out with everyone instead of hunting for them.

Let's see, I have two for Halara and one for Desuhiko.

WDO is the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters confirmed. People already have superpowers; the Master Detective program teaches them to hone them. Postcognition is an advanced form of psychometry.

Psychometry's a fun superpower. It's the psychic ability to view and experience the history of an object. Doesn't get talked about a lot in telekinesis/telepathy stuff, but it's an underrated gem of an ability.

Yuma needs to stop bringing this topic up. He keeps whining about not having a Forte but. Like.

Okay. So. His contract with Shinigami strictly forbids him from ever telling anyone about her or the contract. I guess people getting dragged in with him to Mystery Labyrinth doesn't count because those memories don't return with them to their body, so they never truly learn about any of this.

But he keeps raising this topic and. Like. The natural response of anyone who hears, "Why don't I have a Forte?" is going to be "You have Coalescence. Isn't that your Forte?"

And for all intents and purposes, he needs to shut up and let it be. Because there is no way to explain why that doesn't count as a real Forte. Every time he starts in on, "But I want a REEEEEEEAL Forte and not my Shinigami Contract Powers," he's verging dangerously close to violating the terms of his agreement. But he can't stop himself from talking about the things he must not speak of.

It's not unlike the way he constantly, endlessly expects fair play and good faith from crooked cops - like, he cannot comprehend corruption. It does not enter his brain as a thing that could ever exist. No one wouldn't fairly and earnestly seek truth, of course not, that kind of person doesn't exist!

Yuma is so honest that it manages to wrap around and become a character flaw.

I have absolutely no idea what the ability to fry people with electrokinesis has to do with investigating crimes, but this is only further confirmation that the WDO is the Xavier School.

Being super honest to the point of being overly trusting and gullible is Yuma's main talent. So... it would follow that his Forte is... the ability to disseminate a large amount of information freely to everyone around him?

...that sounds weak but no, the power to widely broadcast knowledge would be a killer ability for trying to unravel a corporate conspiracy. It might even offer an alternative for mystery-cracking to the Mystery Labyrinth. Try and aim for that, Yuma.

Oh, no. No no no no no. That's not true. Not at all.

Every time you capitulate to Shinigami and resort to the Mystery Labyrinth to solve a case, that's an act of giving up. It's a tacit admission of the futility of trying to crack the case yourself. You still put a lot of work into the Labyrinth, don't get me wrong; But someone who never gives up wouldn't grab Shinigami's hand out of desperation - Especially given how much you loathe to do it.

Whenever you're backed into a corner by Amaterasu security, you panic. Then you sell the lives of the culprits to Shinigami in exchange for a supernatural handicap. That's giving up, Yuma.

This feels like powerful foreshadowing, especially given the double meaning of "death" and the parasitic horror floating over Yuma's shoulder.

But even if that winds up being the writer's interpretation, I stand by what I said. If Yuma had an iron will to never give up, then every case wouldn't end in him going, "OH NO IT'S HOPELESS! Help me, Shinigami! I accept the lethal consequences that I despise as a cost of letting your evil powers help!"

Maybe the first time, sure. But after that, every time he resorts to the Mystery Labyrinth, it's an act of surrender.

#master detective archives: rain code #drake plays rain code #halara nightmare #yuma kokohead

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charcubed · 2 years

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I keep seeing posts that are like "interpretations of bi!Dean and gay!Dean are equally valid!" and I used to be like, sure, straight!Dean is definitely wrong but beyond that, see him how you want, who cares.

But now (esp after the Last Call script) I just don't understand the gay!Dean truthers? I follow quite a few on sm, and when I initially followed them I was like "they accept Dean is queer, that's good enough for me." But now they're really starting to get to me and it's not really worth arguing about to them, but I wanted to rant to you about it, cuz you get it.

The script literally included "gorgeous women" in the bar. Dean has canonically been sexually AND romantically attracted to women. He's based off THEE bisexual Neal Cassady.

Like I'm not really trying to defend m/w relationships (lol) but why do even queer ppl insist on erasing his identity when it's so clear? Why do they have to take that away?

Gay!Dean in AUs is one thing, but in the actual, textual canon of the show, Dean is bi. And no, gay!Dean and bi!Dean are NOT equally valid interpretations. And I don't think I'm an asshole for saying that 🤷🏼‍♀️

Sorry it took a few days to get to this. Work and life have kept me busy and tired!

Unironically and non-sarcastically, Anon, I'm glad you've seen the light and seem to understand this topic more now. You are, of course, entirely correct. And you're not an asshole for saying it either.

I'm going to take this opportunity to answer your (potentially rhetorical) questions, and also bounce off of you and lay some stuff out about this topic in general at length for the first time–despite the fact that it may turn me into public enemy #1 again. I am already hated for non-combatively voicing these facts on Twitter (this thread tends to be considered one of the "ground zeroes" of the nonexistent "debate" lol), but I have avoided being dog-piled on Tumblr so far, so... fingers crossed I can miraculously keep it that way!

My hope is that anyone who is predisposed to taking this topic very personally just moves on instead of attacking me (or subposting me?) for any of what I'm about to say. I'm also not forcing anyone to read this, before anyone's like "that's way too many words" or "it's not that serious lol."

I do think this topic is important. I've made the decision to publicly spell out why. And if anyone doesn't want to read it, that's their prerogative.

To your questions, Anon:

I think a lot of this comes down to a fandom-wide problem (all fandoms recently, not just SPN) of not understanding the difference between headcanon and canon, the dimensions as to why that distinction does have its uses and its necessity, and the value in both. I'll get into this later.

But in this fandom specifically, based on observation and lengthy conversations I've had with a dozen long-time fans who are my friends... I personally think it's maybe a new dimension of viewpoint that's branched out from a holdover of "all interpretations are valid" being the party line people have clung to a very long time. (That’s also true in other fandoms, but I think it’s especially true here.) It's a form of solace people don't want to deviate from. No one wants to be seen as or feel like the ~jerk~ who's ~invalidating another person's view of canon~ in response to someone else's knee-jerk reaction of hurt. This is a fandom with early-2000s cultural baggage and context, where people dealt with feeling like the "crazy fangirls" who shipped Destiel and dared to call out queer subtext. Misha's "You're not crazy" tweet exists for a reason. I do feel like a lot of well-meaning people–aside from misunderstanding or being ignorant to the analytical roots of this topic and why they absolutely matter–just know what it feels like to have their thoughts on queer content in a show feel "invalidated," and they don't want to be perceived as doing that to other people. And/or: they’ve felt invalidated before (in this fandom or others!), and so they’re hypersensitive to anything they perceive as doing that to them again, especially if they tied personal identity into the projections they’re making onto the media they enjoy.

I understand that people don’t want to seem ~mean~ or make waves. I also don't want to seem mean or be mean, which is why I try to be as clear as possible whenever I talk about this and I never go after people directly (or interact/reference any of the many subtweets from people who openly talk shit about me. haha). But the facts shouldn't be seen as "mean"; they are simply facts. And yes, they absolutely matter.

Because the thing is... none of the above has any bearing on the nuances of the topic at hand, the indisputable fact that Dean is bisexual in canon and that claiming otherwise is erasure, and the truth that none of this should be seen as a threat to people's headcanons.

These are all things that people should understand, and I will not apologize for knowing that and saying it. Misunderstanding this–making the false claim that “all interpretations of Dean’s sexually are equally valid as long as you see him as queer”–is an act of bisexual erasure in this context, and it often (unintentionally!) plays into biphobic talking points. And yeah, in my opinion, that’s something people should care about because it’s worthy of both personal and fandom examination. It is, in fact, why “representation” matters at all.

Let’s not kid ourselves: the bulk of this fandom-wide discourse is about Bi Dean vs Gay Dean. So, y’know, that’s the bulk of how I’m going to address it to just get it all out there.

Right out the gate, let me clarify this: I am not saying–now or ever–that those who are self-proclaimed “Gay Dean truthers” or argue that “Dean being gay in canon is a valid interpretation” are deliberately coming from a place of malice and the intent to contribute to bisexual erasure. By all means, I’m sure most aren’t! Nonetheless, intent does not equal impact. I’ve even seen people say “I’m a Gay Dean truther and I’m bisexual, so how could I possibly be contributing to bi erasure by arguing for Gay Dean?” But in this situation–as in any other–no one is immune from unwittingly perpetuating harm, even including bi people. And it’s important to understand why that is.

“Interpretations” are not opinions, not all are equal, and they do require some level of skill. This is not a personal attack, or a moral judgement on anyone, or somehow a threat to people’s enjoyment of a favorite character. It is just fact.

Gay Dean is not a valid possibility in canon. There is no lens that justifies an argument of it with canonical basis. I have to break down why, in order to sufficiently express why claiming otherwise is a harmful position to take, so bear with me.

(No, this is not an invitation for a Gay Dean truther to treat this like a “debate” with me or waste time writing out a counterargument. Please just exit the tab if you’re somehow here battling that urge.)

For someone to say that Dean is gay in canon, here is an incomplete list of what has to be erased, ignored, or explained away:

• His sexual attraction to, romantic love for, and relationship with Cassie.

• His sexual attraction to, romantic love for, and relationship with Lisa (whether or not one thinks she was ever the ~ultimate love of his life~, attraction and love were present.)

• His stash of and enjoyment of porn that includes women, which is referenced many times.

• The moments where he was seduced by a female-presenting monster.

• Each and every time he made a reference to or joke about his attraction to women.

• Any fling he ever had with a woman on screen, and the enjoyment he had in the process.

The man is canonically sexually and romantically attracted to women, and he has acted upon that and even enjoys that about himself in wildly diverse contexts. It is a blatant part of the text of the show. (The fact that we are at the point where this is somehow a main point of contention rather than his attraction to men does make me feel a tiny bit insane, to be honest.)

Now, in my experience (which I don’t claim is comprehensive!), the people who argue for Gay Dean tend to explain ALL of this away under some form of universal umbrella of Dean being “performative,” a variation on compulsive heterosexuality they ascribe to him. The claim or explanation tends to be that Dean was performing a mostly-faked attraction to women based on his father’s expectations and outward pressures he received in the culture of his life. Moments are often cherry-picked out of context to support this “reading.”

Who is Dean supposedly performing FOR, even in the moments where he acts on his attraction to women when he is alone? How does this explain his significant relationships with women like Cassie and/or the legitimate visible enjoyments he received from those interactions, as well as his flings with women throughout the show? How does this explain things like the Last Call script, where Dean is very clearly written as attracted to “gorgeous women,” a factoid that is not only very clear on screen but also (of course) written in literal black and white?

(There are no sufficient answers to these rhetorical questions. Once again: please do not waste time trying to give me any.)

And what evidence are Gay Dean people using for comphet or performative Dean? The “evidence” is often a misread of canon, pointing towards the consistent theme and false goal presented in the text of the show of characters’ efforts to strive for an “apple pie life,” aka a heteronormative ideal family. Gay Dean people misrepresent what this theme and through-line in the show is actually about, which is the totality of learning to accept your life rather than striving for something ill-fitting, that what you need and want need not be mutually exclusive (family life including fulfilling romance + hunting life can coexist), family is what you make of it and how you define it, and there are no true limitations on what all of this “should” be. While these themes are inherently queer, they are not about narrow performances of masculinity, femininity, or sexual identity, but about making space for ALL forms of all of the above–AND about identifying what it is that one wants and thinks they can’t have.

Namely, for Dean, that’s a version of settling down in a life that fulfills him in every direction, with an open and honest mutual relationship with the person he is in love with. This latter point would be true whether Cas was a man or a woman (though the fact that he is a man of course adds further dimension of interest to the story). Dean doesn’t think he can have a romantic relationship / family that lasts, and by later seasons that yearning is a key part of his character. The times it didn’t work out for him weren’t because those other people were women, but rather because the “lesson” he internalized from traumatic instances of loss is that hunters don’t get to do ~the love thing~ or get the settled down life. This is stated in the text of the show multiple times, and that’s also why Dean seeing examples of hunters who made any kind of balanced life work (especially masculine queer hunters like Jesse and Cesar) is pointed and purposeful. To say it’s about comphet instead (with no sufficient canon evidence that supports that) disregards a key point that’s central to Supernatural’s story, and in my opinion it disregards it to its detriment.

For Dean’s journey in particular, it is about freedom from limitations of structure, and knowing that he contains multitudes. The things he got from John–loving classic rock and loving his car, for example–are no less core joyful parts of Dean simply because they originated from his father. Dean can love classic rock and still occasionally love a Taylor Swift song, for example. He can love cowboy movies and manly movies, and also enjoy chick-flicks. It’s the idea of learning that there are no limitations, not that masculine interests are not inherently something he loves for himself or that aren’t important parts of his identity. It’s an expansion to openly include more, not a switch or a narrowing. The same applies to his sexual attraction and his queer identity. He can be attracted to cowboys and bikers, and also be attracted to gorgeous women. Him being attracted to / loving women does not mean he cannot and does not feel attraction and love for men; likewise, him being in love with a man does not mean he wasn’t and isn’t attracted to women.

(“Last Call,” as an episode, exists in part to drive the totality of these points home, and emphasize that Dean’s attraction to men is something he’s known about himself for most of his life and acted on previously. So is most of the queercoding and queer subtext applied to Dean–which is specifically coding him as bisexual. His attraction to men is sometimes established or made clear because it echoes his attraction to women, etc. etc. Dean’s canonical attraction to men is a whole other post.)

So here we come to why saying otherwise and trying to shoehorn a comphet narrative onto Dean in canon is harmful:

Aside from the fact that to claim Dean’s joyful attraction to women is performative is to cut out chunks of the story and is thus not supported by canon, and it relies on making assumptions about and projecting onto the text… unintentionally or not, the implication is that bisexuality is not queer enough, or that being gay is somehow “queerer” and thus more compelling and a preferred concept, and that attraction to different genders is a heterosexual / straight trait requiring removal. No one is queering a text in a more revolutionary way or unlocking a ~secret good Supernatural~ by making a bisexual man into a gay man. That’s simply not how this works.

“Preferring” an argument for Gay Dean in canon requires explaining away or misreading all of those moments Dean has with women, essentially replacing them with trauma or suffering or discomfort that–in my observations–also sometimes rely on stereotypes of gay men. It also involves potentially preferring to twist them into behaviors Dean must have universally put himself through not out of genuine joyful desire but at minimum because he felt like he “should” or at maximum in an attempt to “fix” his “gayness,” even when no one was watching. And it points to the pressures Dean experienced about living a life that fit him fully–pressures that exist not just in his world, but also in our patriarchal world and society–and it implies that queer people can’t authentically experience attraction or love to someone of a different gender, because maybe they’re actually just “performing” the heteronormative ideal. As in: a “visually queer” relationship is the end goal, right? For Dean, that’s an m/m relationship... so surely m/f matters less, or maybe it can’t be a genuine and significant part of a queer person’s life.

Once again: I do not think any of this is intentional on the part of Gay Dean truthers, nor do I think it’s done with malice. Nonetheless, these harmful biphobic viewpoints permeate these conversations and misconceptions when people say these arguments are valid.

There is no canonical basis for explaining away all of Dean’s moments with women, and the story does not provide or point to any kind of cohesive narrative reason to do so. YES, people absolutely experience comphet in real life, and those experiences are valid and exist. YES, real gay men can and do sleep with or have nuanced romantic relationships with women before realizing they’re gay later in life. No, that does not mean that’s how analysis of a fictional character in a fictional story always works, especially in regards to a story built over time like Supernatural’s unique approach and the way it was molded to place queerness and specifically bisexuality at the core of Dean’s story.

Ascribing comphet to Dean in canon–or making any other insufficient justification for explaining away his attraction to women–is personal projection. And yes, it is bisexual erasure.

This is not a position fueled by personal hurt for me, as I would say the same here whether or not I was personally bisexual. It is an acknowledgement that these conversations don’t exist in a vacuum, and that’s something everyone should care to understand. I know what comphet storylines look like in fiction, and I know they are worth defining as such, and in other fandoms I even defend that very loudly. This is not the case here, and to say it is requires mental acrobatics that are objectively unsupported by canon... and invariably insisting otherwise perpetuates one of these harmful biphobic viewpoints whether or not one realizes it.

To say Gay Dean is a legitimate read of canon–which it is not–supports people who are erasing his varied sexual and romantic attraction to a different gender simply because they’ve decided they want to ignore that. “I like the idea of Dean being gay” does not mean that he is gay in canon, and writing meta to that end is a problem. It’s not an invalidation of someone on a personal level or some weird variation of homophobia to say that, and I do think people should maybe examine why they seemingly like the idea of him being gay more than him being bi, or why they staunchly defend it (or any other “different queer reading”) as a possibility.

I understand there may be the urge to be like “is it that serious” or “this is just a CW show,” but to that I would say… then why are we all here?

Clearly, most people do still care about queer representation on some level and understand that queer subtext is present and acknowledge that Dean isn’t straight... hence the origin of this new prevalent concept of “as long as you say Dean’s queer then it’s fine.”

But in any piece of media, the text is the text is the text. The text can also be compelling, and fascinating, and contain value whether or not it’s an exact reflection of you personally as a fan and as a person. Sometimes there is arguably even greater value in being able to find reasons to relate to the humanity of a character or in a story even though elements differ from who you are personally. It is an exercise in empathy, and it is a pillar of why humans tells stories to each other to expand our viewpoints, and it sometimes results in examining the sources of that empathy. It’s why “representation matters”: not just so we can see ourselves, but so we can see others, and find reason to empathize despite differences. There’s unquantifiable power in that, and it’s also why the diversity of queer experiences and identities should be championed and acknowledged both in fiction and in reality, not turned into a monolith. Our solidarity amongst our individual queer differences and identities is our truest version of strength and authenticity. We are not all exactly the same, and that’s a good thing. When care is taken to specifically convey that in fiction, it is worth not only acknowledgement but also defense.

So: do we or do we not care about why representation is important, and why these sorts of conversations should exist at all? About censorship of queer storylines, and diversity in the queer community, and solidarity in differences? About bisexual men, a vastly underrepresented group in fiction, and the specific censorship that affected Dean’s bi story accordingly? And about how these viewpoints people can place onto fiction through fandom-wide conversation–like implying Dean is ~queerer~ if you say he’s gay, or that you’re somehow sticking it to the CW and “straight culture” if you suggest he’s gay–can influence biphobia that translates into ways people see bi people in real life?

In other situations even in this fandom, people understand the value of diverse queer experiences. No one would dare to say that “you can argue Charlie is bisexual in canon because as long as you say she’s queer it’s fine.” Charlie is a lesbian. It’s very, very clear, and she shows and states that she is only attracted to women. Dean’s attraction to women in canon is equally clear, and is part of his bisexuality. Why is erasing that defendable?

Look: it is people’s God-given right to write whatever fic they want about “what if” variations of Dean’s sexuality through a different lens. It is not their God-given right to make things up about canon and call it analysis.

It is a universal truth that fandom is always going to take canon and mold it into other versions that they love, for their own personal reasons and in ways that have value to them. That’s why transformative works like fic exist, and it’s why fandom is awesome, and I’m glad people use aspects of their favorite stories to tell other inspired stories that are of personal significance to them. But the word transformative is used for a reason: it’s an alteration of canon. It’s not a bad thing or a personal attack on people to say that.

There is a difference between understanding canon and writing actual meta / analysis of the show, and writing AUs for ones own enjoyment and fulfillment. (This is true on AO3 or on Tumblr/Twitter. I often see posts that are positioned as “meta,” but again, are just cherry-picked weirdness.) These differences are important, as is understanding how headcanons and fic affect surrounding conversations and fandom perceptions. And this fandom seems to have a very big problem with understanding the difference between these things, while taking it extremely personally in a negative way when people try to explain why the difference matters.

Confusing analysis and transformative fandom does a disservice to both, and denying the value in the former is not only a form of anti-intellectualism but also removes some of the beauty in the latter. If we can’t distinguish and differentiate between canon and headcanon, we can’t discuss the value in understanding the canon, nor adequately discuss the artistic value and power in creating derivative variations from it in personal ways. Both are different, both are equal, both are vital, and insisting the distinction is needless hampers conversation across every space. And nowhere is that more true than when one is discussing queer representation and queer censorship, like in the case of Supernatural. Again, why are we here? Why do we care? You cannot argue for and discuss the problems of censorship sufficiently if you don’t understand what was censored–and in Dean’s case, that was his love for Cas and his bisexuality.

I leave you with this (probably unneeded) analogy:

Imagine Dean’s a zebra.

(Sorry, EDS community; not that kind of zebra.)

People are trying to say “Dean is a black and white hoofed mammal <3″ and well, that’s accurate, but that doesn’t mean him being a zebra isn’t its own unique thing. A whole bunch of people are looking at him though and saying “well I prefer to say that Dean’s a black and white horse,” because they like that viewpoint better. Close enough, right? A black and white horse is basically a zebra, right? And then there’s the people who are like “I think Dean’s a cow!” and it’s like, okay, no idea where you came from, but whatever.

The point is that those are all entirely different fucking things. They’re different animals. Someone wanting Dean to be a black and white horse doesn’t make him less of a zebra. Pretending otherwise is absolute nonsense.

This debate/discussion/discourse is equally nonsensical. That is the logic (or illogic) that applies here.

Just because Dean is “queer” doesn’t mean any queer categorization underneath that umbrella suddenly equally applies.

Dean is bisexual. And he is “queer” because he’s bisexual.

Those are the facts.

And for the love of God, please... I really don’t think I’m an asshole for saying it.

So, to whoever made it this far: please do me the courtesy of not hating me for it or trying to bait me into a fight.

I’m tired. Thanks.

----

EDIT: Couple of good additions!

• @doctorprofessorsong added some good details about how some of these harmful biphobic concepts translate to real life, and real things that bi people struggle with.

• A lesbian anonymously sent in her perspective as someone who enjoys gay Dean headcanons/fic and agrees with this post, and agrees that the fact that Dean is bi in canon is important.

#dean winchester #supernatural #dean is bi #bisexual dean winchester #HAHA I TOLD MYSELF I WASN'T GOING TO PUT THIS IN THE OFFICIAL TAGS BUT THEN I SPENT HOURS WRITING IT SO FUCK IT #[slaps target on my back and cries] haha here we go #I'm not linking it on twitter though. I don't have that level of masochism in me. maybe this will fly under the radar on here a bit?#spn meta #I take a marijuana level of high road on twitter constantly but fun fact I'm not immune to knowing people hate me for daring to say this #doesn't change the facts though! and unfortunately I do actually give a fuck! even if few others do #maybe this is so long no one will read it #char writes things #also I did absolutely plagiarize myself in parts of this. what about it. ok I'm done goodbye.... screams #PS people CAN reblog this btw. I am being a little baby wincing at potential backlash preemptively but like #I wouldn't have posted it and left reblogs on if I didn't know and accept the risks <3 I will speak the truth idc idc someone's gotta do it #EDIT: I stopped being a coward and posted it on twitter :) because fuck it! I stand by my words etc etc it's all fine #me vs adding to the tags as if anyone's reading them lmfao

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skepticalarrie · 1 year

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Is anyone talking about copy of a copy of a copy? Because I feel like it’s one of the most queer coded (if not the most) songs Louis has written, and would he be out (and maybe if the song was on the regular album version and more widely spread) it ought to be considered very groundbreaking? It would at least be more widely and publicly discussed, the message and the impact? Is it because many people outside the fandom don’t know of it? Is that the intention, to keep it in the shadows, to quietly show support, and those who need to hear it will, and will understand? Because the ‘straight’ interpretation of the song is just funny, if there even is a way to interpret it in that way.

It’s one of the most touching songs he’s written, and it always leaves me sad, hoping one day it wouldn’t be like this, for him and for others. It also makes me think of Mika’s song ‘Good Guys’ and the impact of having openly queer icons. They’re almost like two sides to the same story… It’s like Good Guys is grateful and hopeful, while COAC is more desperate, pessimistic? More ‘it is what it is’ in attitude…

Idk what the point of this even is, I’m just rambling’cause it makes me feel things :’( Good guys is such a RBB song tho come to think of it…

Oh wow I haven't heard about Mika in a really long time, this song is amazing, I love it! Thank you for sharing it with me. And I agree it's two different ways of looking at the same thing, probably based on their personal experiences. While in Mika's song, he's acknowledging and being thankful for all the ones that came before him and inspired him, I think Louis is more focused on the process of getting there... the acceptance, the struggles, all the shed tears. And what brings comfort in the middle of it is to know that you're not alone. I don't see it necessarily as pessimistic, but it's a very realistic way to look at it, all queer people go through similar experiences when it comes to that and well.. it is pretty brutal. It's extremely brutal for Louis, so I'd be surprised if he was writing about that in any other way. And he does have certain patterns when writing about his experience as a queer person, Fearless, OTB, All This Time, Bigger Than me, Copy Of.... all these songs have a lot in common, he always talks about it in a way that is not romanticised, he's talking about bravery and embracing it and facing things the way they truly are despite being incredibly rough most of the time. And I love that so much about him.

As for the song not being widely discussed, yeah well... he's not out. So it's hard to talk about it in a more straightforward way. But he does have a fanbase that is very very queer, so I think the overall intention of it was obviously to express himself and to quietly show support for the ones who need it and understand it. Maybe one day he will be able to reach more people and be more open about that, he will be a big inspiration for people someday (he already is!) and I'm sure he will have a lot to say about it...

youtube

#ask #copy of a copy of a copy #lyric analysis

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frillyfacefins · 1 year

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One Hell, Two Falls, Many Snakes (Hazbin Hotel Lucifer Meta)

So recently somebody replied to me on youtube, in the context of Hazbin Hotel, with this:

"According to most lore (other than the generic "Lucifer is evil" stuff) Lucifer was expelled from heaven because he loved humanity too much and didn't like the way God treated them, so he was condemned to try and reform sinners. His punishment was that no matter what he did, it wasn't enough."

First of all: The "according to most lore" immediately had my heckles up re: Citation fucking needed. But even if that were something that was widely known (which I have never heard before and sounds very 21st century to me), I think we can assume that this is not the case with Hazbin Hotel's Lucifer.

Let me explain.

Humanity didn't start out with the concept of 'sin'. Even in a world where Lilith exists, she wasn't really a sinner as much as a failed experiment - a prototype that didn't work the way it was intended to. 'Sin' only came into existence with the Fall of Man, aka the apple incident.

A Snake by any other name

So. In the bible and in sources up to the 19th century, the snake was not really assumed to be the same person as Lucifer. In the biblical canon, I'm pretty sure the snake was just a snake. We are all familiar with the whole "'Satan' in the bible just means an enemy, but not all of these enemies are meant to be the same entity" thing.

Later, we find interpretations of the snake as a demonic creature - I'm thinking specifically of Goethe's Faust, where the snake is the "aunt" of Mephistopheles.

I do believe, though, that in Hazbin Hotel, Lucifer was the snake in the Garden of Eden. Mainly because of the apple-and-snake imagery. So if we take this as granted and go with the most straightforward explanation, Lucifer must have fallen before the Fall of Man.

So Hell predates Sin, which means Hell can't have been constructed for the purpose of 'rehabilitating' sinners.

So what about Charlie?

I feel like there is also a seed in this that would explain why Charlie, only daughter of Lucifer, seems to be so young in the show. Eve's punishment in the bible was to labor like a beast, so my current assumption is that having babies wasn't really in the original blueprint of humans. We can also assume that Lilith underwent a metamorphosis when she came into Hell, so that might have made the whole baby-having even more difficult for her.

So I basically think that having Charlie at all was pretty damn hard for Lucifer and Lilith.

(Maybe that's one reason why other demons of the fallen-angel-variety (Paimon, Asmodeus) are more animal-like - because when they fell, animals were already able to procreate, while humans maybe weren't. But that's a tangent for another day.)

I've gone into detail on my own imagination of the early days of Hell in my fanfic "The Spark that made Heaven burn", and I'm going to write a sequel to that fic from Lilith's perspective soon. I just felt kinda bothered by that reply, and wanted to get this off my chest.

Hell is Other People

I think one thing we need to remember when we talk about demons and Lucifer and Hell is that a lot of this stuff was never in the bible and doesn't have a single, "canonical" source. Most of what we are talking about in relation to 'hazbin hotel lore' (outside of the series or helluva boss) is stuff that was written by medieval or renaissance mystics who were either reworking material that had been reworked dozens and dozens of times over a thousand years, or who were making things up wholecloth.

There is no such thing as 'accepted lore' when it comes to this, only things like "according to Johann Weyer" or "according to the Testament of Solomon" and then you have to deal with the whole pseudepigrapha issue... And then of course we get 19th century occultism and new age stuff mixed into all of this, which makes everything even more messy.

Basically, if anybody tries to tell you something about demons or angels is "accepted lore" or something like that, maybe be careful. And don't get angry at artists who take a part of this whole patchwork rug of ideas and use it in a way that doesn't jive with what people say is "correct according to most sources". None of this is codified. Just relax and let people have fun.

#hazbin hotel #helluva boss #lucifer magne #hazbin hotel lucifer #hazbin hotel meta #vivzieverse #text

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miixz · 2 years

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I feel like its necessary to put a disclaimer that while I know it’s widely accepted that Madam Lan was unjustly imprisoned, and that while I have enjoyed that interpretation of the story plenty of times, we don’t actually know why she killed that person or what happened during that time.

That being said, a headcanon I’ve been currently entertaining regarding Madam Lan is that she's a bit like Lan Xichen. Someone who made some questionable choices, but that’s not a malicious person in the end, except that due to not being in the same position of power that he is, she didn’t get away with them.

I guess it’s just that I see people compare Lan Xichen to his father so often, and Lan Wangji to his mother, and I thought about why not explore the other option? At least with Lan Xichen. She seems to be the parent that interacted most with them after all, no reason why they can’t both take a bit after her in their own ways.

Lan Xichen is someone I would describe as a person who is ultimately trying to be kind and do the right thing, but has failed for multiple reasons, and if we put Madam Lan as someone who made active choices, who did kill a person for reasons we don’t know, and that may have been righteous or may not, but who is also more than this one instance in her life, they can be viewed as similar people.

This would also tie in nicely as to how Lan Wangji still loves Lan Xichen. He seems to have already made his peace with his mother’s past, that she can be both someone who made potentially bad/unfair/maybe even cruel choices (again I’m not saying she did, but we don’t KNOW, that’s the point), but that didn’t take away from her being a good mother, who was always gentle while in his presence. So when Lan Xichen went on to make even graver mistakes, he's able to accept that like her, he’s flawed, even though he’s trying to do his best. And acknowleging that doesn’t need to mean that he’ll be defined by those actions forever, or that he can’t just love him as his brother while still holding him accountable when he makes mistakes.

This post was not supposed to be about him, but just to tie in everything: Lan Wangji I think is harder to place because he's a bit of all of them. His protecitveness could be associated with his father, but he's gentle and teasing like his mother, and you could also say he's alike Lan Qiren in that he took to teaching. But he takes those traits inherited from the adults in his family and makes the best of them, setting him apart from them by not repeating any of their failings, so no comparisons fit perfectly.

#mdzs #idk just some thoughts #pls dont come for me lol

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raijin-tribe · 8 months

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Hello, i'm huge fan of Raijinshuu and I notices something about Evergreen.

My english sucks, do not worry about it :)

So, when we first saw the Raijinshuu they were bad people. When they were beaten and Laxus kicked out, they were trying to talk with the guild (bcs they made a big mistake and would say sorry). I mean, this is logic, no problems about it...

(thanks the Anime) when Evergreen talk there's sometimes, she act like a mean girl (she's keep saying she's a fairy and she is strong and all the stuff). And why a person who know she's strong will scream that they are strong ? Honestly, maybe it's what we think, she like to people to know she is...

But why she cried on Tenrou ? (How do i write dis sh!t ????) I'm not a psycologist or something like that but i know this : when a person believe they near to death they open their true them. While Elfman is just a little more sweet and calm, Evergreen was crying bcs if they lost, it's was HER fault. Not strong enough. She was sorry. Maybe I do not interpret has other do...

But remember, when she was a kid she was lonely and had no friend. This thing, especially when you have a young age can break a person for the rest of his life. Evergreen have insecurities. Evergreen is a woman, who want to hide the little girl who's broken and sad behind a strong personality. They're sometimes it's the real her (with the filter). She has feeling.

Maybe it's bcs i'm adicted to her, maybe i overreact to all we see and know about her. But maybe Evergreen want to be love and don't know how to say it.

Again, i'm sorry for my english and all. So if you want to throw a dictionnary at my face you can ;)

It’s okay! No need to throw any dictionaries! I get what you’re saying.

And— I agree!

We don't know much about Evergreen's past, unfortunately. We do know that she's always loved fairies, and even though translations can vary, it's also pretty widely accepted that she was rather lonely growing up, probably due to her eye magic. (Something I think Freed and Bickslow also dealt with given their anti-social attitudes and self-isolation from the rest of the guild before the BoFT— but that's a conversation for another time.)

I've noticed this before, but there are times when Fairy Tail characters will look down on themselves and their abilites, believing they are not strong enough compared to their guildmates. Regardless if it's true or not, it's how they feel and what motivates them to become stronger. I can see this with Evergreen, too.

On Tenrou, Evergreen let her insecurities get the best of her because she felt it was her fault they lost to Rustyrose. She didn’t think she was strong enough. Her fairy magic was ineffective against him and she wasn't able to land a single attack while Elfman contiued to fight. Even after Elfman went through the trouble of getting Rusty's glasses off, he just summoned another pair. She wasn't able to turn him to stone, and they lost because of it.

I think Evergreen has a strong personality because she wants to convince herself she is strong. She's scared to be seen as weak or vunerable and that's why she will sometimes come off as vain or arrogant instead. Those who can see past this (Laxus, Freed, Bickslow, and Elfman) are the ones who are closest to her, and despite how she acts sometimes, she does care very, very deeply for them as well.

So, yes. Evergreen does have insecurites and does want to be loved, but it's okay that she doesn't know how to say it because her friends already know and share her feelings.

I don't go on character rants very often because there's just so much to say and I often get my thoughts all mixed up trying to type it out, but hopefully this makes sense! I love Evergreen so I'm glad to share some of my feelings on her character! <3

#ask #textpost #fairy tail evergreen #エバーグリーン

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measlyfurball13 · 2 years

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Pale King's foresight- a headcanon

My number one question in Hollow Knight lore has gotta be this: how did the guy with foresight fuck up so colossally with his plans?

The first and most horrifying answer I came up with was that the Pale King saw every possible outcome of the future, and that despite everything, how things play out in the game is still somehow the best timeline.

There is evidence for this. Certainly, there's evidence that PK knew Hollow was sentient, given from both the Path of Pain cutscene and the Worldsense tablet. One can also interpret PK's dying "no cost to great" to be vindication that, despite how absolutely fucked everything got, his plan is still going exactly how he saw it would.

However logical this is though, it doesn't really line up with things thematically. The idea that everything that happens in game is a result of PK's super awesome all-seeing plan cheapens the actions of all the characters, especially Ghost. Ghost's whole theme as a character was that PK was wrong about them, regardless of ending. In the Hollow Knight ending, it shows PK was wrong because Ghost is a true pure vessel, having beelined to the assigned duty of the vessels with little thought to spare for anything else. In the Dream No More ending, it shows PK was wrong about Ghost's inherent value as a person, having self-actualized and forged their own path.

So, the second answer to the question of PK's foresight is that somehow his foresight malfunctioned. But why would this ability screw up in this one particular scenario? Presumably he's had foresight for his whole life, as it's implied that it's due to him being a wyrm, so why hasn't it screwed up before? Or, if this foresight has screwed up in the past, why would he trust it in this instance and be so ironclad that his Vessel plan was going to work?

Given that this second answer is the widely accepted interpretation, the fandom has already come up with a lot of explanations as to why PK couldn't see the writing on the wall with the Vessel plan. His own character flaws/hubris is certainly a valid explanation. So is the idea that his foresight was simply unwieldy and difficult to interpret. However, I'd like to pose my own spin on it.

It's implied (or at least it's become fanon, and that's twisting around in my brain) that being a wyrm is a bestial existence. It's implied that in order to become "civilized", PK gave his wyrm form up to become a bug. So if wyrms are beasts, what does that mean for their innate foresight abilities? Let's assume that wyrms behave like any other animal in nature, and that any traits they might have are a result of millions of years of evolution, and as a result are geared towards their own survival and propagation as a species. Why would wyrms evolve to have foresight? Presumably to 1. find food or 2. avoid danger.

It wouldn't do an individual wyrm much good to have foresight into the future of everything. That would get overwhelming quickly, and that's no good if you're a predator. Presumably, a wyrm would be evolved to see only into its own future, enough to know whether the hunt will be successful or if something is about to happen that could injure or end its life.

To make a comparison the humans- why did humans evolve to have a stress reaction? To help find food and avoid danger. Maybe, then, like the human stress reaction, a wyrm's foresight didn't make the transition to a modernized lifestyle so well.

PK's whole theme is about "civilization". He's a scientist who wants to put everything into little boxes; a colonist who fashions people into his molds. He came to "civilize" bugs, and there's no doubt that he holds himself to that same standard as much as he does everyone else. He has molded himself as their king, and by his own name, he's going to protect his kingdom even if it kills him.

So he tries to utilize a foresight ability that's only really evolved to see into his own future to try and serve the needs of an entire kingdom of people.

His foresight is perfectly accurate and reliable- but he has to try and interpret the state of his whole kingdom based on glimpses of his own surroundings and actions. He would have probably gotten very good at interpreting things from little details: for example, if he foresaw a messenger coming up to him and reporting that trade has become more prosperous, he could presume that any new trade policy he implements would work, but he wouldn't be able to see the actual carts of the merchants, or any other indicator of how things turned out.

And going back to the "even if it kills him" part- if PK looked into the future and saw his corpse on the throne, but no other detectable indicator of the Infection anywhere in his vision, what do you think his reaction would be?

My bet is "No cost to great."

#hollow knight #the pale king #PK #pale king #meta #tl;dr I thought of a way his foresight could be nerfed in a way that makes sense to me #note on the idea in the last three paragraphs-#the real smart thing for PK to have done would be to get out of the goddamned palace some more #but you can't force an introvert to change can you?#and this dude is still certainly 'Character Flaws: the character' so combine that with this peculiar nerf I gave him #and you've got a recipe for disaster #this is HEAVILY inspired by user ganymedesclock's meta on PK!!! go give him some love and read his posts because they're better than mine

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hashimada-week · 1 year

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FAQs

When will this event take place?

Interest Check: March 1 - 15

Prompts Posted: March 20

Sneak Peak Day: June 9

Posting Dates: July 9 - 15

Who can submit work?

This is an open event so everyone can participate!

How do I submit work?

On Tumblr: post/link work @ this blog (@hashimada-week) and tag it with #hashimadaweek2023.

We also have a Twitter: @hashimadaweek and #hashimadaweek2023.

If it’s not reblogged/retweeted within 24 hours, feel free to send an ask/dm, it might have gotten buried!

Will an Ao3 Collection be made for this event?

Yes! It’s already created and will be opened a week in advance for submissions: HashiMada Week 2023.

What kind of work will be accepted?

Pretty much anything! Fanart, fics, edits, AMVs, headcanon/meta posts etc. Feel free to send an ask for specific clarification.

A/B/O AUs aren’t allowed, are other kinds of AUs ok?

Yes! No A/B/O AU is a mod preference, other AUs are perfectly fine for any day!

What if I want to write something in your rule’s ‘not allowed’ list?

You are more than welcome to create whatever content you’d like in your personal time, but the ‘not allowed’ list’s purpose is to appeal to a wide audience and our mod’s personal comfort. If you’d like to host your own event with no restrictions at all, we encourage you to do so! However, we will be sticking to our rules for this event.

Is early/late posting allowed?

The event date is to be determined after the results of the interest check. We will continue our ‘sneak peek’ day from last year on June 9th, but no other early posting will be reblogged here until the start of the event.

Late posting will be allowed until the end of July.

What did you say about that sneak-peek/progress check?

One question in our first interest check was about early progress checks. Typically week events don’t have them, but this sounded like a fun option to get people excited during the creation period! Tag any sketches/excerpts/etc. with #hashimadaweek2023sneakpeek on Tumblr or Twitter on June 9th and we’ll reblog it! (You can also @ us too on either platform.) Again, this is 100% optional and if you share a sneak peek, you are not obligated to finish/post the work for the event itself. This is just for fun!

Are dark fics/unhappy endings/tragedy allowed?

Yes! As long as the fic is focused on hashimada and the rest of our rules are followed, feel free to interpret any prompt in the most angsty, heart-wrenching way possible!

Can I reuse old works for this event?

No, sorry! Only new content, please! If there’s another week happening at the same time, cross-posting is allowed as long as our rules are met and hashimada is the focus of the work!

Is there a minimum word count for fics/completion status for fanart?

Nope! Make the fics as long or as short as you want and everything from sketches to full-color artwork will be accepted as long as it’s hashimada themed and follows the rest of the rules.

Can I complete only one prompt or do I need to complete all?

You can do one prompt or all or anything in-between! Do as much or as little as you’d like!

I’m not a native English speaker, so, can I post stuff in Spanish? Thank you! / Are fanfics only allowed in English? / Can I participate if I speak, read and write in Spanish?

We accept works in all languages as long as they are properly tagged and follow our rules!

Are platonic works okay, or does the ship have to be romantic specifically?

This is a ship week event so we are expecting most works will be romantic in nature, but platonic relationships are allowed too!

Depending on participating writers/artists mood…maybe two+ prompts per day, at least one G rated and one M rated would be nice. Is this possible?

There will be three prompts per day (because we couldn’t decide between a few, lol!) In an attempt to make the prompts as broad as possible we don’t have “G” or “M” ratings, but each individual creator is allowed to interpret them however they’d like.

I heard there’d be merch?

Yes! We’re doing stickers this year. Check out the Sticker Merch FAQ for more information!

If any tagged work breaks our rules, it will not be reblogged here.

If you have any additional questions, please don’t hesitate to ask!

#faq #faqs #posting to be friendly to mobile users!

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lairofdragonagelore · 1 year

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Murals in DAI: The Creation of the Veil

This mural is located in Shattered Library; Scholar’s Retreat.

I’m going to share my thinking process in the main body of the post, and a tidy summary of the interpretation of the mural will be done at the end of it.

[This post is part of the series “ Murals in DAI ”]

[Index page of Dragon Age Lore]

We have discussed some alternative interpretations of this mural and questioned the possibility of having been painted by someone else but Solas. All that discussion was done in Shattered Library; Broken Tower and Scholar’s Retreat. From now on, we are going to assume the conclusions we reached in that post, that is:

Solas painted this mural, since it seems to show a deep understanding of the nature of the Veil.

It was painted before the creation of the Veil, like a sketch, or a study, to keep the ideas clear.

Now, let’s proceed to see the parts.

The foreground and the background

Like all the murals that show the composition of the world with different spheres, I think they have “two or three panels” fused in one, using the foreground and the background as different panels. In this case, the four figures that belong to the foreground are the two small spheres and the two eluvians with the elves inside. The background is all the rest.

The only interaction between the background and the foreground seem to be a red line that “contains” the yellow/golden bubble area, which stops when reaching the eluvians instead of continuing behind of it.

The new structure of the World

In Murals in DAI: Basics, I already discussed a bit the nature of this structure seen in the sphere. But since these interpretations are not perfect, we can discuss them a bit more.

The central part of the Mural draws our vision to two central spheres: a red sphere with something that looks like a Sun, and around it, a black sphere with 14 peacock feathers.

The peacock feathers were already used in the presentation of DAO, during the cinematic where Duncan explained the sin of the Magister Sidereal. The peacock is a widely accepted symbol of pride in the Western, so it seems reasonable to link this space to Pride. In this sphere, we have seen that other murals [for example, “Siege of Adamant Fortress” from “The actions of the Inquisitor”] represent in this area six eyes, another symbol of Pride in the world of Thedas due to the demons of Pride. This Pride can also be related to Fen’Harel, since in the mural “Self-portrait” we can interpret the Wolf as an aspect of Solas that lurks the Fade, vigilant of the creatures he sealed time ago.

The mural “Creation of the Veil” was presented in Trespasser, as well as the codex “Veilfire Runes in the Deep Roads” which is given to us with the last mural of the DLC [”The death of a Titan”]. The codex seems to imply that after Mythal’s death, “green vines grew and enveloped a sphere of fire”. From all the Trespasser murals, this is the only one which shows a red sphere with an undeniable symbol of fire: a sun [once more, the sun as a symbol in Thedas reappears]. Another red sphere of fire appears in the mural “The Death of a Titan”, but we will talk about that when we try to interpret it. What we can say is that it seems reasonable to link this Red Sphere with that one present in the “The Death of a Titan”.

The codex speaks of green vines covering the Red Sphere, but in this mural we don’t have vines. This mural is about the Creation of the Veil, not about the Death of Mythal. However, I think that maybe this is the real reason behind the creation of the Veil. We know that Solas said at the end of the DLC [Somewhere[DLC Trespasser]: Elven Ruins] that the death of Mythal was the reason why he sealed the Evanuris, but the truth is given by the codex and the Dev’s notes in the room where we find the mural of “The Death of a Titan”: the real reason was what Solas [and some other elves] collapsed in the Deep Roads in order to hide and not to “wake it”. The certainty is given to us in the Dev’s notes that we find in the room with the mural “the Death of a Titan”:

So, this seems to be the real cause that Solas wanted to hide and seal, so I’m inclined to link this fire-like red sphere in the codex, represented in “The Creation of the Veil” as a Red Sphere with a sun, as the real thing that Solas had to isolate to avoid its spread. Sadly, we have no way to determine the details of this thing. Maybe some hints can be scratched in the mural “The Death of a Titan”.

As a colourful note, this red sphere and its iconography with fire/a sun seem to be related to the several versions of the unreliable Dalish Tale of Elgar’nan, who shoved a ball of fire/ the Sun into the earth; the closest we get to that image is Fen’Harel collapsing the Deep Roads to hide “a sphere of fire” that has been sealed with vines that only lasted some eons until it finally awoke with angry energy. The Creation of the Veil was the only way that Solas found to control this danger, and he represented it in a cryptic icon of a sun inside a red sphere.

This sphere is sealed inside another: one which is black and it is related to pride. This can be interpreted as:

1) Protected by pride demons, the most powerful ones among the demons so far we know in lore. 2) Protected by an aggressive aspect of Fen’Harel. We know Fen’Harel has six eyes, related to Pride demons. We also know that the true complex nature of Solas has not been disclosed yet completely. 3) These peacock feathers I spoke about in other posts represented the Magister Sidereal, but this interpretation would be anachronistic in this mural: the creation of the Veil goes back in time before the existence of Tevinter. 4) My best interpretation is that the red sphere is wrapped by those whose pride endangered the world: The Evanuris [which in terms of Roles are similar to the Magister Sidereal, who are also represented with these feathers].

So Solas condemned the Evanuris to banishment, sealing them in another Sphere: the black one. We also know that they must have been bound to a body to avoid their presence in the Fade and communicate with Dreamers [Hakkon dlc]. Due to the blackness of this sphere, this seems to be where the Golden City laid once, and where the Blight contaminated it. How the Blight contaminated it? I have some options, and I can’t really incline to any of them:

1) Solas may have sealed the Evanuris around the red fire sphere that ended up tainting them. If we associate the Red Sphere with Red Lyrium, this seems plausible. What feels wrong of this supposition is to think that the Evanuris were contaminated with Red Lyrium and not the Blight, which is a fact: Corypheus already stated that the Black City was filled with Darkness that he embraced [read more in Orlais: Shrine of Dumat]. So I’m not too inclined to this option. 2) Solas sealed the Evanuris that were already tainted by their own actions. This seems to be supported via the codex “Elven God Andruil“ where we can interpret that Andruil came back tainted from the Void. It’s not clear if this contamination was the Blight or Red Lyrium [more details in Ancient Elven codices, Temple of Mythal]. To make it reasonable with Corypheus’ testimony, it should have been the Blight. 3) If we include a bit of old lore, we also know from DAO via Zathrian, that some strong bound processes, specially those against the will of the creatures involved, can cause the spread of curses or disease.

Independently of the situation in which the seal was made, the Golden City turned black and got filled with the Blight.

Returning to the Mural: the border of the black sphere is a dotted line. I’m not so sure if I should link this with the mural of “The Death of a Titan”, where the titan is surrounded by a dotted line, making more obvious the idea of “red sphere with fire”. This would imply that the danger that the dead titan released was contained in a dotted lined sphere, where the Evanuris were sealed inside in order to be isolated and suffer eternally [as Solas claims this is how they were banished in the Elven Ruins].

The following space outside the Black Sphere is the grey-blue-teal one, filled with a symbol I have no idea about. This space is contained by the typical line that represents the Veil or barriers as strong as the Veil itself: the dashed line in black and gold, and then a black line. It always looks like a reinforced barrier. These barriers also appear in the small blue and gold spheres on the top corners. This bigger sphere can be interpreted as the Fade, but since the outside of this sphere is depicted with a black space filled with inverted triangles, I’m inclined to think that this grey-blue-teal sphere is a second mechanism of defence: a second barrier after the Veil responsible of keeping out any dreamer or spirit interested in exploring the Black City. This is the true Veil that the Magister Sidereal broke, not the one we did in DAI: walking physically along the Fade is something that some people like Flemeth can do without any consequence. The true transgression is to pass this second barrier.

The silver and golden bubbles

What are they?

The position of the bubbles, if we compare it with the information given by the last trailer, coincide one another:

It suggests that the bubbles may be related to the archdemons, whatever they were originally. We need to remember that how they were related to the Elvhen is something we have no information about. The fact that Tevinter speaks of the Archdemons as male entities with the exception of one, and we see winged dragons in their archdemon version [winged dragons are only female] says a lot to me: clearly the Tevinter interpretation of the Old Gods is something different to what these entities truly are, which seem to be related to the Elvhen as well. So, through the identification of the symbol of Urthemiel, I assume the bubbles are different Old Gods, that seem to work as seven guardians or feeders of the Veil [meaning, maybe they keep this stronger barrier up by giving their energy to it].

Why are there silver/grey and golden/yellow bubbles?

If we established that these bubbles can be translated as Old Gods, one can assume the silver/grey ones may represent the “killed archdemons”, but I think that’s a misunderstanding: we need to put things in a timeline. When Solas created the Veil, there were no Blights, and whatever function the Old Gods had at that moment in the elvhenan empire, had nothing to do with Blights, so the silver and golden bubbles have to mean another thing than a mere status of life. I played with several options:

1) The golden ones are on a background of gold colour, while the silver ones, are in “dark” spaces, but the blackness do not touch them. I was tempted to understand this as “four guardians are in the “darkness of the depths”, while the remaining three are “somewhere where there is light”. This is bullshit. So far we know, five archdemons have come from the Underground already. So this interpretation makes no sense.

2) The dotted line, that so far we suspect, may represent up and down, underground or sky. If we see it in the mural of “The Creation of the Veil”, it is placed in a way that makes five guardians to be underground, while two are, at least, on the surface. This interpretation may support the idea that we had five archdemons coming from underground already, but we don’t know what would happen with the next remaining two.

The problem with this interpretation comes when you identify each of these bubbles with a symbol of the incoming Archdemons:

It would mean that the beetle-head creature comes from the underground and the moon-head creature from the surface, making useless the previous hypothesis that the five last Archdemons came from the underground. So, once again, it’s impossible to identify the reason why some are grey and others are yellow.

I think it’s important to highlight, even though I have no idea how to interpret them, is that the space behind the silver bubbles has full reach all over the background, while the space of the golden ones, are contained in red cubicles [see the image below the title: The foreground and the background].

Maybe the colour of these bubbles are related to an intrinsic nature of the guardian that we cannot even fathom. By seeing the image, we can notice that the moon-head creature is related to a grey bubble, same as Urthemiel, while the beetle-head creature, to a golden one. The beetle-head creature can be related to Darkspawn in some way, since darkspawn in DAO used to decorate their territory adding these horns to local statues. The moon-head creature is related to the Deep Roads, since we found its statue in Trespasser, and it is also associated with a sea creature through the concept art of DA:D. Nothing of these bits of information help me to establish some pattern, so it is impossible for me to even speculate what’s the meaning of the colour of the bubbles.

Why are there rays and dark appendages in the bubbles?

Each of these bubbles have the same kind of “rays” that the red sphere in the middle of the mural. I think there must be a link with it, maybe like “gates” that allow us to reach/observe the centre before crossing the barrier? One would immediately think in eluvians, specially if we know that they have a fair chance to be made out of pure lyrium, and the red sphere may be a representation of corrupted [red] lyrium.

As a colourful note, the Chant of Light specifies that there are seven gates in the Black City [once more, we keep having this feeling that the Chantry was a big compilation of Elvhenan history co-opted and modified by humans, where Solas has been transformed in the legendary Maker.]

The bubbles also have a black, smaller bubble with an appendage linked to the silver/golden bubble. I have some potential hypothesis:

1) They are the representation of bound processes. We know the Archdemons that Tevinter Dreamers listened may have been other kind of creature than the dragons that arise as Archdemons. There are several reasons to suspect this:

a) The dragons that arise are all female despite the Tevinter’s Old Gods being all males with the exception of one [Razikale]. b) Design-wise, the Archdemons originally were meant to be Cthulhu-esque, demonic creatures. To link them into dragons would mean that they were forced to be bound to them. This hypothesis is valid for any other kind of spirit attached to these dragons. c) We also know that any other potential hypothesis of presenting the Archdemons as evanuris, forbidden ones, or forgotten ones would implicate in the explanation a bound procedure of these souls to the living creature=dragon in order to justify their “silence” in the Fade. This is the only way how the Fade creatures become silent to Dreamers [Hakkon dlc]

2) They are the representation of the resistance to the Blight. They look like cysts, which reminds me the war table quest Learn More about Dragons: the dragons are the creatures with more resistance to the Blight since they can generate cysts that “seal” the Blight. If the Guardians are in contact with the centre of the black and the red sphere, maybe they are enduring the corruption. Since we linked these guardians to Archdemons which we saw as dragons, it makes sense to represent this ability in the mural.

3) Both previous options.

I’m personally more inclined to support option 1, because we have a long list of proofs and examples suggesting that the Elvhanan empire had a deep knowledge about bound procedures; while I’m not so sure they had such an understanding of the Dragons, specially with a disease that didn’t exist until certain point in their history. The Blight was something too new and unknown to truly understand how much a dragon was resistant to it.

The golden and blue spheres

All this complicated structure of spheres is placed in the Fade, hence we see the black background with inverted golden triangles in the top left and top right sides of the mural [more details to understand this interpretation in “Murals in DAI: Basics” ]. So, we are still inside the Fade.

The two spheres we see at the sides of the mural may have multiple interpretations.

They are elvhen orbs, AKA foci, given the relationship they have with the undulating lines and bound processes explained in Murals in DAI: Basics and in the mural of “Removal of the Vallaslin”. The orb of golden colour may be related to Divinity [as gold does in general], the other of blue colour, likely related to Lyrium. This could mean that for this creation of the Veil two orbs were needed to emulate the power of divinity and lyrium combined. My main con against this interpretation is that these spheres have the same kind of barrier we see in the Veil [dashed lines], which makes little sense for orbs. However, it’s true that the Tevinter version of the orbs, called "Somnaborium" was translated as "Vessels of Dreams”, implying that they are containers of Fade magic and may require some barrier, but all this train of thoughts feels too weak for me.

Two pocket worlds. Since each of these spheres have the exact same border than the one used for the Veil, they give the idea of being “places contained by a Veil-like barrier”. We saw this already in the mural of “Removal of the Vallaslin”, which has this line at the top and the bottom of the scene, giving the idea that these pocket spaces can be created inside these barriers. This is also reinforced by the codex Raising the Sonallium. That one is golden and the other is blue may imply that for this creation of the Veil, two pocket worlds were needed: One with Lyrium [that I speculate may be the one associated with the red sphere, since I related it to the presence of Red Lyrium] and the other, with “Divinity”= the Evanuris [which may be represented by the Golden one, since gold tends to be deeply related to Evanuris/god concepts in Elvhenan culture so far their ruins taught us]. Another possibility for the golden sphere is simply “the Golden City”. In this interpretation, the undulating lines may imply that these pocket spaces are “bound”. I insist in this concept because it is very important: thanks to Hakkon we know that bound spirits can’t communicate with mages through the dreams, and we know thanks to The Archivist that the Evanuris have been silent for a long while after the creation of the Veil [so it seems very natural to assume that the Evanuris have been bound to some physical object/creature]. Maybe the Evanuris were bound to lyrium and isolated in the golden sphere. If this unwillingly bound caused some kind of extra corruption [as Zathrian showed us in DAO], or made the corruption of Andruil to spread to the rest and into the lyrium, it could potentially explain the origin of the Red Lyrium and/or the Blight inside the Golden City. This makes sense in a way that would explain why we find Whispers Written in Red Lyrium which talk about “finding the dreams again”. [The red lyrium has many voices, unlike the normal lyrium, which only has one song: the Song of the titans; more details on this in the post “Songs and things that sing and whisper in DA Lore”] . This means that the entities trapped inside the Red Lyrium were creatures of the Fade once, they were in the dreams once. Cole also says about the creation of the Veil when he reads Solas’ mind: “They sleep, masked in a mirror, hiding, hurting, and to wake them... (Gasps.) Where did it go?” Which seems to add a bit more to this interpretation.

The elves in the Eluvians

Finally, we reach to observe the elvhen. I suspect this is Solas, the "Maker” of the Veil. Or at least the one I called Elvhen2. I’m not too sure if we have to interpret this part of the mural with the spheres over him or the spheres belong to the “background panel”. I will incorporate them in case they give some context.

Both elves are inside a door or a mirror which shape reminds us of an Eluvian’s. It’s not clear if this means that he made himself the owner of the network of eluvians before creating the Veil to block and destroy the ones that had access to the Black City.

The interior border of the eluvians displays a black and a red wine lines, which colour matches the “red wine cubicle” around the golden bubbles. I’m not sure if we can understand this as if these spaces where the guardian/bubble exists are linked to the eluvians, or they protect eluvians that have access to the Black City.

The Elvhen 2 shows an elf wearing very similar outfit to the elves of “Removal of the Vallaslin” or to the elf of the mural “Self-portrait”. His tidy robes are made of a moss-green and black fabrics. The elvhen holds in his hands a sphere with an asterisk symbol, which we associate with the elven orbs that accumulate power over time [Fade power, more precisely]. This image appears below the lyrium sphere, which makes some sense: the lyrium sphere, pocket space related to lyrium is the one related to “The Death of a Titan” [asterisk symbol]. We know that the power to destroy and/or control Titan’s minds [orb/asterisk symbol] allowed the elves to mine Lyrium.

The elvhen 1 shows a halo behind his head, a symbol of divinity [we see this halo in Mythal’s mosaic, check Evanuris]. His robe now looks more like a fur, which seems to imply this is Fen’Harel. And this is happening under the golden sphere, which may represent divinity as well. This could be what Solas told us at the end of the dlc in the Elven Ruins: he was called Fen’Harel for his enemies, not Solas. Fen’Harel was perceived as a god, even though he may or may not have rejected the power of divinity [I’m not sure because the Ancient Elven codices; Fen’Harel’s mountain ruins are written by Fen’Harel’s followers, and they romanticise him in excess. Solas seems to have a pragmatic attitude, so if he needed the power of a god to seal the Evanuris, he would have used it] Would that mean he used all his power [or perceived “divinity”] to create the Veil? The golden sphere represents divinity after all. Maybe this part of the spell is what exhausted him to the point he needed to slumber for a millennia and still yet he was too weak to unlock the elven orb power.

What I find more interesting here is the lines and decorations of the elvhen’s robes: the Elvhen 2 may be Solas, with lines straight and clear in his robe. The Elvhen 1, who may be Fen’Harel, has his outfit is a bit more messy, with twisted lines [the blue squares in the image]. This detail can be understood as his purpose being twisted [he was more related to Wisdom and Knowledge as Solas, while as Fen’Harel, his purpose started to change into Rebellion]. The change of purpose may produce a twist in the harmony of an elf, since they have a spirit-like nature, even though they are not exactly like a simple spirit. This information has been repeated many times by Solas himself, and even the Avvar in the dlc of Hakkon confirmed it.

The other interpretation is that this mess in his fabric may be his regret. We know that thanks Tevinter Nights, he has been feeding a demon of Regret since the day he created the Veil [the “regret of a god”]. The splashed of ink we see in the green squares looks bit similar to the messy figure of the black wolf in his last tarot card:

Solas has incorporated a new role to his personality since that day. He seems to have started his life as Pride, becoming more complex when sharing wisdom and knowledge, and recording information. Then, later in his life, he incorporated Rebellion, and he embraced it with Pride.

By the banter he has with Varric, Blackwall, and Sera, as well as his tales of the things he saw in the Fade, he seems to enjoy and treasure the acts of Rebellion in all situations, even though he regrets the “War” aspect that Rebellion needs. His banter with Blackwall shows a lot of regret in this aspect that Tevinter Nights translate into the big demon of Regret. These details can be seen too through Cole’s lines that show that Solas’ original role was more related to Teaching and Wisdom than Rebellion and War. And at some point, he needed to start changing his role:

"Wisdom knows enduring is pain. He hurts for her, another of many he couldn't save. He carries necessary deaths."

“In his own way, he knew wisdom, as no man or spirit had before.”

"Bare-faced but free, frolicking fighting, fierce. He wants to give wisdom, not orders."

Integral interpretation

The central part of the mural has a red sphere with a sun, which represents the real reason why Solas banished the evanuris: it was not only the death of Mythal but “something else” that the Evanuris had “unleashed”, and that the elves sealed with collapsed stone and magic. This terrible thing may be related to The Horror of Hormak. In a sense, Fen’Harel “hid” a sphere of fire (the Sun) in the underground [this historical event seems to be reflected in the unreliable Dalish Tale of Elgar’nan]. We may suspect this Sun is some kind of danger related to the Death of a Titan, the corruption of a titan, or the corruption of its blood: red lyrium.

In any case, this space seems to have been sealed with the Evanuris inside, and isolated again to make impossible to access to it from the Fade. This is the true Veil that the Magister Sidereal broke when they entered the Black City, not the Veil that the Inquisitor crossed.

This Veil is protected by seven bubbles that seem to represent the Archdemons when compared with other murals and iconography of the series. There is no way to suspect what’s the meaning of the grey and yellow colour of the bubbles. The rays inside them seem to suggest some kind of surveillance on or direct connection to the red sphere, which has a Sun with the same kind of rays. This reinforces the idea of the bubbles being guardians of the main danger that has been sealed beyond the barrier.

The bubbles have dark bubbles with appendages that may represent bound procedures: these archdemons/dragons may have been bounded to some Fade creature: we don’t know if they are bound to the Evanuris, Forgotten Ones, Forbidden Ones, or other spirits.

The two spheres on the top of the mural seem to represent two pocket worlds. One filled with lyrium [blue one], the other filled with the Evanuris [golden as in “Divinity”] or it simply represents the Golden City. The undulating lines in them may indicate bound procedures, where lyrium and the Evanuris were bound to the Golden City. The bound procedure may have caused some disease that may explain the origin of the red lyrium or the Blight, or maybe Andruil, contaminated with any of them, spread it to the rest of the Evanuris when this bound procedure was executed. There is a fair possibility that the whispers found in the Red Lyrium are the Evanuris bound to it.

The elvhen in the mirror may represent Solas’ journey through the creation of this Barrier: from an elvhen mage called Solas who had the power of an orb [The Anchor],

to the divine and feared furry figure of Fen’Harel, whose actions changed his purpose and, therefore, changed Solas. This even may have started to twist his personality and feed the Regret demon that became a gigantic monster by the time he was part of the Inquisition.

#solas #High speculation #DAI murals #Archdemon #evanuris #red lyrium #the blight #blight #elven orb #asterisk symbol #golden halo #the sun symbol

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