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babybells123 · 5 days

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Regarding the original outline + some thoughts on Jon & Sansa…

This is a long one. Buckle up.

If there is one thing I have picked up on in the ASOIAF fandom, it’s the knee-jerk negative reaction towards any theory/parallel/connection between Jon and Sansa. This was exacerbated by the show, of course but even now - five years later, there is an insane amount of vitriol that my brain is unable to comprehend. And here’s the rub; the infamous 1993 outline is the irony of it all.

In a fandom that is a-okay with *certain* incest ships (r.e D@enerys x Jon, D@emon x Rh@enyra, Jon x Aria), as well as blatantly pedophilic ships (Sansa x S@ndor, Sansa x Littlefinger, Sansa x Tyrio*), how is Jon x Sansa the worst of them all? I’m going to pin it down to audience engagement with the show, particularly around the later seasons when Jon + Sansa reunite and people began to ‘ship’ them. So many believe that is how the ship took off, and thus it is mere crack - but there are posts tracking back to 2012/2013 theorising the possibility of Jon x Sansa. Was it spurred by the show? Certainly! But it does not take away from the fact that people were making valid arguments and essays before the general fandom was even comprehending a Jon and Sansa reunion on screen. And people were open to discussing/debating it with general civility (a far cry from today).

I’m 90% certain people weren’t criticising those who began to believe in Jon x Aria when the outline was leaked…(though there were most definitely shippers before). But we never see the same level of vitriol towards Jon x Aria shippers, which is strange.

In any case, let’s talk about said outline, some of the key points - and how I believe GRRM made the switch from Jon x Aria to Jon x Sansa. I’ll be drawing from GRRM’s past works, interviews, art, and his personal life - as well as other potential literary influences. I'll be linking metas along the way, but without further ado - let's go.

In October 1993, GRRM wrote a pitch outline for a publishing company. It was three pages long and conveyed alongside the first thirteen chapters of AGOT (170 pages). The three paged letter was leaked on twitter in February 2014, though there were multiple aspects parts blacked out. Keep in mind though, this may not be the *only* outline that exists. There are multiple outlines that have never been publicly released (and will likely remain that way).

But let’s just focus on the 1993 outline, since we’re privy to the details. The thirteen chapters attached to the outline did *not* yet have a Sansa POV, and that’s because in this outline, she wasn’t listed as a key character.

The key characters were; Bran, Jon, Tyrion, D@enerys, and Aria.

The first thirteen chapters were; Prologue; Bran I, Catelyn I, D@enerys I, Eddard I, Jon I, Catelyn II, Aria I, Bran II, Tyrion I, Jon II, D@enerys II, Eddard II, Tyrion II.

I’ve seen people claim that Sansa isn’t an important character since she wasn’t listed as a key character, but they conveniently leave out the fact that a) her chapters were not yet written, b)she was given an entirely different more passive storyline in this outline, c) she dies, d) this was far far before GRRM fleshed out his characters entirely - Sansa took on a life of her own and she became her own solid complex character with an arc in 4 out of 5 of the books; 25 chapters.

In fact, since the books have been published GRRM has regarded Sansa and the Starks as a main character as well;

Collider: In creating this world, did you start out with one family and then branch off into the rest of the world?

GRRM: Well, the Starks are certainly the centre of the story, when it begins. It all begins at Winterfell, with occasional cuts to Daenerys across the ocean, because there was no way I could get her into Winterfell. But, we bring all the characters together at Winterfell, and they’re all there for a while before they start to go their separate ways ... .But, the Starks are the centre of the book and, to a lesser extent, the Lannisters. They are still the major players.

Collider: When you went into this, did you intentionally take the children, put them in an adult setting and force them to be in very adult and complex situations?

GRRM: Yeah, the children were always at the heart of this. The Stark children, in particular, were always very central. Bran is the first viewpoint character that we meet, and then we meet Jon and Sansa and Arya and the rest of them. It was always my intention to do that.”

Collider report.

May 2016 - Balticon.

(…) George said he was “pissed” that the outline was posted in the office building and that someone took photos and shared them. He said it was a letter for him and the publisher only. He was very firm when telling this and it showed on his face.

He then said that he is not good with writing outlines, making book deadlines, and that often in outlines he was “making shit up”, and “characters changed along the way”.

He went straight from talking about the references in the actual books, to the “differences” in the outline from then to now. He did say that he still knows who sits the iron throne and the end game of the main 5, but also included Sansa, but did not give any details (for obvious reasons).

[question if he is still going with the 1991 ending]

“Yes, I mean, I did partly joke when I said I don’t know where I was going. I know the broad strokes, and I’ve known the broad strokes since 1991. I know who’s going to be on the Iron Throne. I know who’s gonna win some of the battles, I know the major characters, who’s gonna die and how they’re gonna die, and who’s gonna get married and all that. The major characters.

….

“So a lot of the minor characters I’m still discovering along the way. But the mains-”

[question if he knows Arya’s and Jon’s fates]

“Tyrion, Arya, Jon, Sansa, you know, all of the Stark kids, and the major Lannisters, yeah.”

Balticon report:

“Ah, how innocent I was… little did that guy in the picture imagine that he would be spending most of the next two decades in the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros with Tyrion, Daenerys, Arya, Sansa, Jon Snow, Bran, and all the rest.”

GRRM's live journal:

So Sansa has clearly developed into an important character from GRRM’s words, and the key-characters argument can cease, because It’s very tiring to dispel that when the characters and story took on a life of its own. (I mean, Jaime was meant to remain a villain, but he was clearly given somewhat of a redemption arc in the main series).

I paraphrased what was written here for this whole section, so go check out the longer post!

The Aria in the original outline:

*NOTE: I am blacking out her actual names in case the wrong people find this post. None of this anti her, please keep that in mind.*

Five central characters will make it through all three volumes, [...] The five key players are Tyrion Lannister, D@enerys Targaryen, and three of the children of Winterfell, Aria, Bran, and the bastard Jon Snow.

Joffrey will not be sympathetic and Ned [what appears to say] will be accused of treason, but before he is taken he will help his wife and his daughter Aria escape back to Winterfell.

Tyrion Lannister, meanwhile, will befriend both Sansa and her sister Aria, while growing more and more disenchanted with his own family.

When Winterfell burns, Catelyn Stark will be forced to flee north with her son Bran and her daughter Aria. Wounded by Lannister riders, they will seek refuge at the Wall, but the men of the Night's Watch give up their families when they take the black, and Jon and Benjen will not be able to help, to Jon's anguish. It will lead to a bitter estrangement between Jon and Bran.

Aria will be more forgiving ... until she realises, with terror, that she has fallen in love with Jon, who is not only her half-brother but a man of the Night's Watch, sworn to celibacy. Their passion will continue to torment Jon and Aria throughout the trilogy, until the secret of Jon's true parentage is finally revealed in the last book.

Abandoned by the Night's Watch, Catelyn and her children will find their only hope of safety lies even further north, beyond the Wall, where they fall into the hands of Mance Rayder, the King-beyond-the-Wall, and get a dreadful glimpse of the inhuman others as they attack the wilding encampment. Bran's magic, Aria's sword Needle, and the savagery of their direwolves will help them survive, but their mother Catelyn will die at the hands of the others.

Exiled, Tyrion will change sides, making common cause with the surviving Starks to bring his brother down, and falling helplessly in love with Aria Stark while he's at it. His passion is, alas, unreciprocated, but no less intense for that, and it will lead to a deadly rivalry between Tyrion and Jon Snow

Observations:

Exactly how old is Aria? Is she a warrior princess who cries at songs like her aunt? Does she enjoy/yearn for romance? Is she a stunningly beautiful maiden rivalling that of Cersei? How close were she and Jon? Did they have a good sibling relationship? Or were they distant? Does she look physically different to Jon? Does she have red hair?

The Sansa of the Original Outline:

‘Each of the contending families will learn it has a member of dubious loyalty in its midst. Sansa Stark, wed to Joffrey Baratheon, will bear him a son, the heir to the throne, and when the crunch comes she will choose her husband and child over her parents and siblings, a choice she will later bitterly rue.’

Tyrion Lannister, meanwhile, will befriend both Sansa and her sister Aria, while growing more and more disenchanted with his own family.

Jaime Lannister will follow Joffrey on the throne of the Seven Kingdoms, by the simple expedient of killing everyone ahead of him in the line of succession and blaming his brother Tyrion for the murders.

More observations:

How old is Sansa? Is she 16? 17? She’s conveyed as a less important character in this outline - why? Queen of the Seven Kingdoms? She dies? Jaime kills her? What is her relationship with Aria like? Are/were they close? Or was Sansa initially meant to be a two-tone villain who betrayed her family? Is she overwhelmingly beautiful? Or is she the plainer sister?

It’s quite clear that both ASOIAF Aria and ASOIAF Sansa are entirely different characters to their outlined counterparts.

In the outline, Tyrion sacks and burns Winterfell. In ASOIAF, It’s Theon and later Ramsay who does this. In the outline, it’s Bran, Aria, and Catelyn who go beyond the Wall. In ASOIAF, it’s Bran, Meera, and Jojen (and Hodor). There are a couple of other changes made here, but there seems a pattern where certain acts *still* occur in the main series, they’re just given to different characters (which makes sense, as GRRM grows organically with his characters.)

So, when we take into account the fact of ASOIAF Sansa being considered a main/key character, her marriage to Tyrion, and the possibility of her being the first to reunite with Jon - perhaps GRRM did keep a Stark x Snow romance - but gave it to a different sister.

In the 2016 Balticon report, GRRM stated he wished that ‘some past things didn’t have such strong foreshadowing and that newer things had stronger foreshadowing.’ You can make a case for J0nrya foreshadowing in the first book, but I’d argue that ACOK/ASOS is where the Jon/Sansa clues and foreshadowing is rife. (and there are certainly Jon/Sansa clues in the first book as well.)

Now to circle back. The Aria of this outline doesn’t have a personality - none of the characters do, really. We don’t know how old she is. Is she a teenager? Is she close in age to Jon? We know she has her needle, so can infer she is a fighter and spirited, but is there a soft romantic side to her? Does she cry at songs like her aunt Lyanna? Does she yearn for love? Is she immensely beautiful? For a narrative like this? It'd be likely if Jon and Tyrion are fighting to the death over her, sort of like gallant knights fighting each other to win the heart of a fair maiden (very romantic and idealistic, mirroring the songs and the stories).

(This is how I am certainly inferring such a scene would have gone).

The ASOIAF Aria we know and love took on a life of her own. She’s described as plain looking (some envision her to be more beautiful than characters like D@ny, Cersei, and Sansa though). - But just quickly on that matter, Aria is indeed compared to Lyanna in looks and spirit, though Lyanna’s beauty was described as wild and implied as non-conventional; different perspectives have different opinions on her. For example, Cersei, Jaime, Devan, the Maester who wrote the WOIAF don’t consider her anything special. Whereas Ned, Robert, and Rhaegar do. So it’s one of those instances where you aren’t exactly sure. In any case, Aria's looks aren't a driving factor in her arc, and I don’t see ASOIAF Tyrion (as creepy as he is) suddenly falling in love with her due to mere attraction because presently, Aria is all knobbly knees and elbows, stick thin, a child, not a maiden, who will still be a pre-teen at the end of the series, if there is no massive time jump.

SHE'S JUST A BABY.

But then, Tyrion did lust after Sansa, so there’s that… however ….

Sansa’s beauty is a driving force in her narrative arc. She is objectified for her beauty. Preyed upon because of her beauty; in many ways it causes her to suffer. It’s largely why LF is grossly infatuated with her - she’s beautiful like Catelyn. Tyrion is attracted to Sansa and wishes to bed her, the H0und intends to rape her during the Blackwater battle, he also comments on her breasts growing, Joffrey sexually humiliates her in court, Ser Dontos has a pervy infatuation with her, Cersei despises Sansa because she is younger, more beautiful etc which she views as a threat.

So, beauty is pertinent to Sansa’s narrative, and it isn’t vain or shallow to say so because it’s a large part as to why she suffers. And her physical beauty is meant to compliment her indulgence in romantic idealism; knights, chivalry, courtly love, beautiful appearances thus equating to good people. It also contributes to perceptions of Sansa; nothing more than a pretty, stupid girl with naive dreams.

So back to ASOIAF Aria: Her arc largely surrounds nature & nature, mercy, war trauma and survival, friendship, belonging, and family. For the majority of the story, she is a traumatised 10 year old travelling through a war torn country, witness to awful horrors, forced to assume multiple identities, until she goes to Braavos and begins her faceless man arc. But this is obviously not her endgame - she is going to go home eventually, that is quite clear.

You can argue she had a little crush on Gendry (as a 10 year old would) (and perhaps something may happen with him when she is older, I think GRRM has played with it.) But other than that, romance is not a central part of Aria's arc insofar. For outline Aria it was, but current ASOIAF Aria is on a completely different tangent all together.

(and that poor poor child is suffering immensely while this is all occurring). Currently, she has no time for/interest in it. She hasn’t been involved in betrothals/marriages, or had men lusting after her (save ‘Mercy’ and people men making brutalising sexual comments towards her). She disguises herself as a boy for a good chunk of the story as it is safer to travel.

No, I’m not trying to reduce any sexual trauma/objectification she suffers, she’s a little girl for heaven’s sake - I’m merely stating that what she is going through is in some ways similar and different to what Sansa is going through. (Who currently is in a in a very Lolita type situation with LF and men sexually intimidating/abusing her has been a key part of her arc - as I said, she suffers significantly due to her beauty. She is something to possess, she isn't real or tangible, she is a beautiful maid with a vast claim to the North.)

Anyway, ASOIAF Aria finds songs and romance ‘stupid.’

“Sansa would have shed a tear for true love, but Arya just thought it was stupid.” (Arya VIII ASOS)

(but that doesn’t mean she won’t encounter it later in life, it just means that at this point of the story, she isn’t interested/likely won't encounter some epic grand romance that outline Aria was likely destined for. (And she’s 11 for god’s sake!).

‘But Sansa was dreaming of love at that age!’

Sansa has been a romantic idealistic dreamer since she was a little girl. She adored those stories and is the literal embodiment of the mediaeval pre-raphaelite maiden depicted in art. It’s central to her story arc, to her qualities, and how she functions/copes with things around her. “Life is not a song.” Is so fundamental to that.

So to reiterate ASOIAF Aria is a completely different character to outline Aria- for all we know OG Aria was 15 years old, very beautiful to the point of men duelling over her, (just as depicted in art above) likely a romantic heroine, had consistent memory lapses that would cause her to “realise in terror, she had fallen for Jon,” and based off of GRRM’s past works - was probably a redhead.

“But OG Aria has a sword named needle!”

Indeed, but as I stated, we don’t know anything else about her beyond that. Many have theorised that D@ny and Jon are the epic romance of the series, but it’s clear from this particular outline that GRRM intended for it to be Aria and Jon as the epic major romance of the series. That would mean Aria would have to be a somewhat romantically-inclined character, for this development to appear natural and not forced. Based on her current ASOIAF arc, it doesn’t track for her character to make a sudden 180. Her softness and vulnerable moments come from thinking of her family and home. Insofar, this isn’t equated to yearning for love, romance, children, as Sansa has done from the beginning of the series.

Now, we know GRRM is a self-proclaimed romantic, and ASOIAF Sansa exists very much as a deconstruction of romanticism.

“He said he is a romantic, in the classical sense. He said the trouble with being a romantic is that from a very early age you keep having your face smashed into the harshness of reality. That things aren’t always fair, bad things happen to good people, etc. he said it’s a realistic world, so romantics are burned quite often. This theme of romantic idealism conflicting with harsh reality is something he finds very dramatic and compelling, and he weaves it into his work.” (2005 interview).

Sansa is arguably, the embodiment of this dismantling. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that love isn’t real, or that it doesn’t deserve to exist in a gritty world such as Westeros. There were many couples who had good, happy marriages, even after war and loss and trauma. For example, apart from the Jon Snow situation, Ned and Catelyn had a remarkably healthy relationship. So it is possible - the takeaway from the series is not that hoping is meaningless, dreams are meaningless, love is meaningless. More so that it is complicated, and it must coexist alongside all the chaos in order to achieve a sort of

equilibrium. A literal ‘Dream of Spring’ a hope for happiness, rather than happiness itself. It tracks with the bittersweet conclusion to the series ; it is a grimdark story, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll be a grimdark ending where everyone good and noble dies and wishes/dreams/innate desires remain unfulfilled.

In fact, I argue that a lot of them will come true - but at what cost? It’ll be at the cost of loss and grief, of suffering upon suffering, but what’s inherently more powerful, what’s more subversive is having those characters persist and rebuild, regenerate, create a new world where love and chaos undoubtedly exist alongside each other, but just because there is chaos, that does not mean the love is miniscule or cancels out entirely.

Because if all these characters have the most unsatisfying, awful conclusions known to man, well - what was the point of everything? What was the point of their journeys? This isn’t a nihilistic story, and it won’t have a nihilistic ending like everyone assumes. It’s far more difficult for an author to craft such an ending, balancing things out whilst acknowledging all the loss and still holding out hope for a better future to come. That brighter days will arrive. That winter will end, and spring will be on the horizon.

“We may lose our heads, it’s true. But what if we prevail?” (Davos I ADWD).

And that right there, sums it up perfectly.

So you need characters like Sansa, characters like Brienne, D@ny, (you know what let’s just add all the Stark children of the series to the list, because every single character arc is about remaining resilient and prevailing in some way or another).

But it’s Sansa who exists as the meta character that embodies/indulges in all those romantic ideals that GRRM is intent on exploring - it thus makes perfect sense for it to be her that experiences the romance arc. Many people think she’ll end up with the H0und, or Harry the douchebag, because it’s a part of her growing up, maturing, learning from her negative biases etc etc but she shouldn’t have to be with abusive or douchy men to learn that. She’s already learned and suffered enough.

“It is my claim they want. No one will ever marry me for love.”

And how utterly heartbreaking that she has resigned to think this, with her arc only mid-way. But importantly, just a few chapters later she enters the garden of undisputed beauty and equates the snow landing on her face with romantic kisses, she dreams of innocence and winterfell, despite lamenting how she doesn’t belong in such a pure world, she steps out into it all the same. And she builds her home in the snow, content and for once - she’s the child she is, the child she is yearning to be.

So Sansa falling in love with Jon makes sense on a characteristic level. It’s something she never would have considered as a sheltered child, not just because he’s her bastard half brother but because he just didn’t exist in her idea of how the world works. He didn’t fit in with her idea of knights, and courtly love and chivalry. He wasn’t a gallant golden prince, he was dark, sulky and brooding. He existed on the parameters of her life, and she was comfortable with that distant association - but she still loved him, and he her.

Falling in love with Jon would equate to a dismantling of these previous prejudices she held; he’s utterly unconventional, the opposite of what she has shown attraction to (despite her first ‘love’ being Waymar Royce, who resembles Jon strikingly). The man she never really considered beyond courtesy and some scarce, fond memories - to be the one who restores her faith in men, in love, in dreams.

“Realising with terror that she has fallen in love with Jon… their passion will continue to torment them.”

tracks with Sansa’s characterisation particularly, her memory lapses, her clouded judgement, and inability to interpret things correctly (and something as confusing as this would certainly cause her to have some cognitive dissonance going on).

Not to mention caution around well… men. Because who would ever marry her for love? Who would ever take her for true? Love her without expectations and judgement? It’s Jon. Who has been there since the very beginning, who has been a silent unconscious hero, the answer to her prayers, who embodies all those romantic and knightly ideals she has so desperately wanted - despite her being unaware. Who has advocated for her claim - above everyone else.

“No one will ever marry me for love.” And that infamous Jon chapter follows. Jon who is never quite far from Sansa’s suitors. Jon, who has a similar dream of rebuilding Winterfell, of having children named after lost siblings, who wants to woo a girl by giving her a rose and loving beneath the heart tree - the heart of Winterfell. Who would undeniably want to have that beautiful soul-nourishing love he never received as a child, that he believes is perpetually unavailable to him.

Above all, they just fit together. It fits with GRRM’s William Faulkner-esque “the human heart in conflict with itself".” And this is a perfectly subversive way of encapsulating that Jon confusing brotherly love and affection with romance, struggling with the shame of it all - especially post-resurrection, the religious disillusionment that would occur, the notion of Jon being loved by the kind of girl he believed he never had the right to, who his deeply romantic heart is yearned for. (There is a reason GRRM let us know how badly Jon yearns for domesticity, Winterfell love, children, and a wife. He associates his love for Ygritte with her singing, her hair, her smile. He dreams of her tending to him with gentle hands) The simple yet meaningful things that have been denied to him because of his bastardry. And god, what better way to torment these two than by having them fall for each other - realising they fit each other so perfectly, yet tormented by their familial relation. Until, as the outline puts, the parentage is revealed.

Do I believe they will act on their feelings pre-parentage reveal? No. It’ll likely exist in the subtext, in private thoughts and actions. Angst, guilt. Again, the stuff that GRRM loves - the human heart is in conflict with itself.

Much like Lord Byron’s ‘The Bride of Abydos.” Where half-siblings fall in love with each other until they realise they are actually cousins. Lord Byron, who was famously in love with his half sister Augusta, who was a stranger to him for a good portion of his life until they properly got to know each other and fell in love. (Who does that sound like?’)

And if you’re wondering how Jon and Sansa could possibly connect to Lord Byron, well there is a ‘Byron the Beautiful’ in Alayne II AFFC, and Alayne I TWOW. GRRM has further instilled characters by the name of “Manfred” which is in reference to Lord Byron’s infamous work of the same name. (I urge you to check out all of Cappy's Byron metas, they are fantastic.

And, Jon has been called a “Brooding, Byronic, romantic heroine whom all the girls love.” GRRM knows what Byronic is inferring - he isn’t daft, he’s a writer - he reads other works and takes influence and sprinkles in so many things.

A Byronic character involves:

. . romantic melancholy, guilt for secret sin, pride, defiance, restlessness, alienation, revenge, remorse, moodiness, and such noble virtues as honor, altruism, courage, and pure love for a gentle woman. (Poetry Foundation, Lord Byron)

“GRRM: I was always intensely Romantic, even when I was too young to understand what that meant. But Romanticism has its dark side, as any Romantic soon discovers… which is where the melancholy comes in, I suppose. I don’t know if this is a matter of artistic influences so much as it is of temperament. But there’s always been something in the twilight that moves me, and a sunset speaks to me in a way that no sunrise ever has.”

Infinity plus:

And isn’t that exactly what he would be exploring with Jon and Sansa? It isn’t a conventional romance by any means. It could never exist normally until Jon’s parentage is revealed. And that is the tormented nature of it, that is the “bittersweetness” of it - it is rooted in realism, yes - and that to me, is Sansa receiving her true love, countering that no one would ever marry her for love. The gods will grant it to her, - but it’s wrapped up in this darker, morally ambiguous thing that is confusing for her, even though Jon would be her dream come true - he isn’t this neat little courtly golden package, but he embodies all those ideals more than any man she’s actually met.

It’s subversive to what both the characters and the readers expect, and it’s just a brilliant plot twist that screams unpredictability whilst fitting together like a perfect puzzle. It creates internal conflict and evokes those themes that GRRM loves to explore. By giving the ‘heroes’ of the series a motif such as incest is extremely bold; because it challenges the reader greatly. Some people don’t want Jon to end up with Sansa because it contradicts the image that they have of him in his head - the heroic male who will save the world with his heroic counterpart and together they shall rule the seven kingdoms. To embrace his father’s family, claim a dragon, fulfil the prophecy, be the third head of the dragon, reject his stark-ness. Very predictable. Done to death a thousand times over, and yet - it is what the general audience wants/expects. It’s what the dudebros who call him the ‘GOAT’ want, it’s what the Targ stans want, it’s what the show watchers wanted - but what does Jon want?

“Yet he could not let the wildlings breach the Wall, to threaten Winterfell and the north, the barrowlands and the Rills, White Harbor and the Stony Shore, even the Neck. For eight thousand years the men of House Stark had lived and died to protect their people against such ravagers and reavers . . . and bastard-born or no, the same blood ran in his veins. Bran and Rickon are still at Winterfell besides. Maester Luwin, Ser Rodrik, Old Nan, Farlen the kennelmaster, Mikken at his forge and Gage by his ovens . . . everyone I ever knew, everyone I ever loved.” (Jon II ASOS).

“I would need to steal her if I wanted her love, but she might give me children. I might someday hold a son of my own blood in my arms. A son was something Jon Snow had never dared dream of, since he decided to live his life on the Wall. I could name him Robb. Val would want to keep her sister's son, but we could foster him at Winterfell, and Gilly's boy as well. Sam would never need to tell his lie. We'd find a place for Gilly too, and Sam could come visit her once a year or so. Mance's son and Craster's would grow up brothers, as I once did with Robb.

"He wanted it, Jon knew then. He wanted it as much as he had ever wanted anything. I have always wanted it, he thought, guiltily. May the gods forgive me. It was a hunger inside him, sharp as a dragonglass blade.” (Jon XII ASOS).

“Red eyes, Jon realised, but not like Melisandre's. He had a weirwood's eyes. Red eyes, red mouth, white fur. Blood and bone, like a heart tree. He belongs to the old gods, this one. And he alone of all the direwolves was white. Six pups they'd found in the late summer snows, him and Robb; five that were grey and black and brown, for the five Starks, and one white, as white as Snow.”

He had his answer then." (Jon XII ASOS)

“He was the blood of Winterfell, a man of the Night's Watch. I will not father a bastard, he told her. I will not. I will not. "You know nothing, Jon Snow," she whispered.” (Jon VI ASOS)

“Ygritte answered for him. "His name is Jon Snow. He is Eddard Stark's blood, of Winterfell." (Jon VIII ACOK)

"Then you must do what needs be done," Qhorin Halfhand said. "You are the blood of Winterfell and a man of the Night's Watch." (Jon VI ASOS).

“You can't be the Lord of Winterfell, you're bastard-born, he heard Robb say again. And the stone kings were growling at him with granite tongues. You do not belong here. This is not your place. When Jon closed his eyes he saw the heart tree, with its pale limbs, red leaves, and solemn face. The weirwood was the heart of Winterfell, Lord Eddard always said . . . but to save the castle Jon would have to tear that heart up by its ancient roots, and feed it to the red woman's hungry fire god. I have no right, he thought. Winterfell belongs to the old gods.” (Jon XII ASOS)

“He sat on the bench and buried his head in his hands. Why am I so angry? he asked himself, but it was a stupid question. Lord of Winterfell. I could be the Lord of Winterfell. My father's heir.” (Jon XII ASOS).

“If I could show her Winterfell . . . give her a flower from the glass gardens, feast her in the Great Hall, and show her the stone kings on their thrones. We could bathe in the hot pools, and love beneath the heart tree while the old gods watched over us.” (Jon V ASOS).

“If he must perish, let it be with a sword in his hand, fighting his father's killers. He was no true Stark, had never been one … but he could die like one. Let them say that Eddard Stark had fathered four sons, not three.” (Jon IX AGOT).

Look, at the end of the day - we don't know how the story will go, but based off of Jon’s character arc? His thoughts? His actions? His relationships with his siblings? The fact that he has warged into a magical beast directly associated with Starks? The North? The Old Gods? The weir wood trees? I think that instead of GRRM having Jon go down the conventional disadvantaged male hero finding out he is a secret prince and thus becoming King and a proper Targ, GRRM will subvert expectations (much to audience displeasure) and do the opposite.

Learning of his true identity will just cause more angst and a major identity crisis. The one thing Jon finds real and solid, that no one can take from him - is that he is Ned Stark’s son. He raised him. Perhaps they don’t share a direct blood link. But that doesn’t matter, what matters is that he was raised by him, loved by him. So instead of choosing his father’s family; embracing the secret prince persona and fighting for the throne - he’ll choose his mother’s family. And I think that is beautifully conclusive.

But back to Jon and Sansa. GRRM is given the opportunity to explore the sort of impact this incest motif has on fundamentally good people. And I think this is what he originally intended to do with Jon and Aria.

Yes, we have Jaime and Cersei, but this is real sibling incest and rife with toxic narcissism, possession etc. We have the T@rgaryens, which are messy beyond belief and practice it due to blood purity.

But Jon and Sansa clearly differ from the rest, and that is because they exist partly as foils as to what we previously have seen. Similar to Jonnel x Sansa. By intentionally refraining from the development of a properly-close sibling relationship, making Jon and Sansa fundamental opposites visually, and associating them with entirely different cultures (yet writing their core personas as the same, their dreams compatible, their thought process and idealism similar).

GRRM manages to pave the way into such a romance that comes as a shock to the characters, the narrative, and readers themselves. Because no one, absolutely no one would see it coming, and the people who have been privy to the theory - immediately dismiss it - and become quite angry when it is brought up. Like I said earlier, a knee-jerk reaction.

To quote this brilliant meta right here:

‘Whether Jon and Sansa fall in love is up to the author and his intended exploration of literary/mythic themes that his predecessors have deployed. He is not writing from (or for) the moral values of show watchers and book readers, or their anecdotal hopes for how things “should be.” He’s writing a narrative that breaks away from conventional storytelling and what we expect from such characters.’

…

‘ I don’t believe the author is giving up completely on the romantic dream. He has made Sansa more cautious, converted her dreams into mere prayers, and has forced her to examine her assumptions, but he’s not turning her into the H0und, who is too pessimistic and fatalistic as a suitor. Sandor’s assertion that all knights are killers makes fantasy so small, it’s eliminated. I think he is setting Sansa on a path where her dreams do die, and her life becomes about as romantic as that smokestack in Cleveland - until they start to come alive again when she travels North to the Wall.’

'That cold, hard reality is still present in the fact that they are brother and sister, but once Jon’s parentage is revealed, this will change. Like an inverted Cinderella (clock striking 12), the reality will become fantasy again. But it’s still inladen with this bitter reality of their relations. So taking this into account, I believe Jon and Sansa could happen because there is no other couple in the series with which GRRM can explore his fascination with fantasy becoming “smaller,” but not completely shrinking altogether. There are no two better characters who represent these ideas, who have the same quietly domestic desires - who do not (at the moment) actively lust for power and cause it to blind them.'

So in essence, Jon and Sansa exist as the subversion of romance. In a twisted, loving sort of way that is morally conflicting to the characters and audiences (for a time). That has existed between the lines, subtly and implicitly. That the audience gives absolutely no thought, because why would they? And if they do, they are abhorred by it - but I’d argue this is the entire point. But not for the reasons you think, not because of the incest - or J0nerys would disgust them.

From the moment he started the series, GRRM has employed incest as a major motif that impacts both the narrative and the characters - the causes the war, that contributes to T@rgaryen values, legacy etc, that propels aspects of narcissism and vitriol for characters like Cersei. It’s really really interesting stuff, as uncomfortable as it is - there are no other works that explore it so messily and beautifully with such nuance.

I believe people seriously underestimate GRRM’s use of omission and subtext. Seriously, just because something is not explicitly stated, doesn’t mean it isn’t there. Unfortunately fans have such a surface level reading of the text, that they are unable to peel back the layers and get to its core. They don’t consider literary influences, or art, or the Romantic movement or anything. They claim they want a complex story that is subversive, yet they cheer for the three-headed dragon theory and all the most predictable plot points that have been absolutely done to death. But then they turn up their noses at anything that goes against the grain, or insinuates otherwise.

R + L = J is a great example of existence within the subtext, yet nobody denies that it is there. No one is called crazy or delusional for it. Ned never thinks of Jon’s true parentage despite harbouring that secret for years, because it is buried deep in his subconscious.

And much to the audience’s surprise (and dismay I'm sure) that is how Jon and Sansa will manifest. This is the human heart in conflict with Jon and Sansa, but not just them - the readers as well. It’s pointing to us, asking us how we’ll possibly handle it. We’re meant to feel this conflict of emotions - anguish and torment and yet hope for something ineffable - just like the characters.

To be able to evoke that as a writer is one of the most impressive feats I can think of - and for the majority of it to exist at this point, in a subconscious limbo? How utterly complex and painful and raw and intelligent but oh so very brilliant. Perhaps one of the most compelling things to come out of this entire series, if only the general audience was open to such discussions. But alas, we must contend with the community we have, and hope for a dream of spring to come upon us.

#jonsa #jon x sansa #meta #anti asoiaf fandom #jonsa meta #long post #lord byron #incest motif #original outline #literary subversion #sansa stark #jon snow

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skania · 12 days

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OnK Chapter 149

I know it doesn’t mean much coming from me because I’m always complaining about Aka’s writing, but…

And I mean it when I say that I expect nothing 😭 This was literally my first ever OnK-related reblog and its tags are more relevant than ever lmao

These, too:

#honestly I didn’t think too hard about any of this during my first read #because the romantic endgame seems so obvious that it kind of discourages guessing lmao #but re-reading these chapters has made me appreciate Aqua’s side of his bond with Akane a lot more

Back when I first got into OnK, I mentioned that Akane was the entire reason I kept reading the manga. I didn’t care about the romantic subplot, found Aqua/Kana extremely obvious and predictable, and Aqua plain boring.

It’s only during my second read that I paid close attention to Akane’s interactions with Aqua and I ended up playing myself into both, caring about Aqua and shipping him with Akane lol

This chapter has made me realize that despite everything, I'm not emotionally invested in whether they end up together or not. I’d prefer it, obviously, because Aqua truly is at his most interesting whenever he’s around Akane, and their dynamic has the best development in the manga (so far).

But it’s just like I said before: If they don’t end up together, that’s just Aka’s loss, not mine. I’m just here for Akane 😂

And as an Akane fan, I feel like the best thing for me to do right now is to just take a step back and watch things unfold, because Aka will do whatever he wants regardless of how any of us interpret his manga lol

So instead of posting the long post I originally wrote about this chapter when the leaks came out, I'll just share a a clown gif because in hindsight it was silly of me to expect Kana out of all people to have any sort of meaningful insight into Aqua 🤡

And a couple of things that caught my eye because I can't help myself:

Kana didn't even see Aqua and Akane have any sort of meaningful moment, just those two standing in each other's vicinity was enough to make her throw herself a pity party. How many more times is she going to pity herself and give up? How has Aka not tired of writing her this way? Where did her development from the Scandal arc go? 🤡

So Chapter 147 featured Kamiki thinking Ai doesn't love him and Kana thinking Aqua likes her. It even had a helpful "Cut 139: Misunderstanding" panel and everything. Will this mean something? Who knows!

Kana used guilt-trip! It was super effective!

Oh the irony! Poor Akane looks like she's been hard at work convincing herself that she's over Aqua. And you know what? I cheer for her and respect her energy 100%. I'd rather see her doing her mightiest to help him without any ulterior motives than to have her crying for him and hoping to get back with him every other chapter lol

Akane calling Kana out for her pity-party and for being cowardly was so cathartic that if I didn't already stan her, I'd have become a fan right now 😭 It also means that Aka is 100% aware of the way he writes Kana, so when will she finally be allowed to grow?

Kana's praise to Akane made me so sad though because yes, Akane is pretty and she's talented and she's kind. That's sweet of her to say. But that's not what made Akane someone special to Aqua: it was the way she understood him. The worst part is that Kana ends her praise by saying that Akane is a "goody-two-shoes" but... that's the opposite of how Akane views herself. She sees herself as someone who's not decent and not normal. So it's no wonder that while she gets flustered (it's her dear kana-chan praising her), she seems to get a bit sad/frustrated afterward. After all, for Akane it's probably the opposite. Men would prefer a decent, normal, bright girl like Kana - Aqua included.

I wish someone would tell Akane that she is too ignorant of her own charms and that she doesn't have to act like an adult all the time. Truly the pot calling the kettle black! Sadly, unlike Kana, Akane seems to have no one in her corner in this manga. Aqua was the only one there and the poor guy is barely even a character anymore lol

Overprotective mother or controlling ex-girlfriend? Take your pick!

The English translation left something pretty important out in these panels. Akane doesn't just say "if you have a girlfriend", she says "if you have a precious/important girlfriend". This distinction is very important because it goes to show that... as expected, Akane doesn't think she was an important girlfriend to Aqua. It's like she didn't count and Kana would be the real deal. Oh, Akane...

Which takes me to her very silly, very convoluted yet very predictable plan (in true Aka fashion).

When Akane thinks “I know exactly what you hate”, I imagine she means that Aqua hates hurting and endangering those he cares for. So I'm guessing Akane thinks that if she plays matchmaker and quite literally throws Kana at him, someone he has a soft spot, then Aqua won't be able to go through with his revenge because that would mean breaking Kana's very fragile heart.

In other words, it looks like Akane is going to try and use Aqua's guilt-complex against him and her weapon of choice is love. But not her love, obviously, because as far as she's concerned, her romantic love already failed to save him.

Granted, using Kana's romantic feelings to her advantage is kind of... well, wrong. To quote Akane herself, [Kana] is neither her pet nor her property, but a person. But I'm guessing that Akane may be falling victim to the same loophole she got caught in in Chapters 96 - 98. She thinks she knows what's best, so she's putting her own beliefs aside for the time being.

Kind of like Aqua, actually.

And, ironically, it's Aqua himself who first realized how easy Kana is to use.

So! All in all, I'm here for Mastermind!Akane but I hope that Aka will actually make it worth our while. Will Kana realize that she's about to be used as a chess piece in this Proxy War? Who knows, characters in this manga seem to walk in circles, only being allowed to grow when it fits the plot 😂

Last week we wondered whether Aka would subvert expectations or go the predictable route, and down the predictable route he went. His way of making it less predictable is by including a twist in the form of Akane's ulterior motives, but will this be enough to allow this ol' used trope to lead us someplace new? I guess we'll have to keep reading to find out, but given the quality of the writing lately, I'm not expecting much lol

#my aquakane meta #except not quite #being constantly let down by aka is so bittersweet because there's a part of me that's like hahaha I knew it!#while another is just like: sigh why is he always like this #I thought my expectations were already ground level but I'll lower them a bit more just in case #just please let akane keep serving #that's all I ask for #and if someone can at some point in the manga actually #you know #help her #that would be pretty cool too #because she's basically carrying the entire plot on her shoulders right now yet no one offers her any kind of emotional support at all lmao

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hamsternamedmarinette · 7 months

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Okay there was a time where I would've asked you to please shoot me in the face if I ever made a post overanalyzing this show, but let me just offer my interpretation of the writers' decision to leave Adrien out of the final fight, because personally I thought it was a very good, very impactful decision. You are more than welcome to disagree with me, but please, I beg of you to disagree with me after actually understanding my logic here.

There are two heroes of the show. Marinette/Ladybug and Adrien/Cat Noir. There were two central conflicts of the show. The heroes' fight against Hawk Moth, and Adrien's conflict with his dad. The cool thing about this show is that one man, Gabriel Agreste, serves as the antagonist for both of these conflicts. He is the supervillain the heroes are fighting. He is also the bad father Adrien is growing up with. This made for some prime dramatic irony in the show.

But just because the antagonist is the same in these two conflicts doesn't mean these two conflicts are connected. Yeah, I know they're connected because of Adrien's mom and whatnot, but up until the very final moments of this arc, the heroes did not know this.

Remember that first conflict I mentioned? The heroes' fight with Hawk Moth? Ever since the start of the show, that has primarily been Marinette's battle. She was the hero who bore the brunt of this conflict. She was the hero who cared more about it. This was Marinette's conflict, so she was the one to end it.

The reason Adrien wasn't there for the final fight is because that was Marinette's fight. Hawk Moth was Marinette's fight. And Gabriel Agreste is Adrien's fight. And just because Gabriel Agreste is dead, doesn't mean Adrien's conflict is over.

So no, I don't think Marinette being there by herself was just a "gotta have the cute bugnoire outfit ~uwu~" decision (though the writers may have seen the cute bugnoire outfit as a bonus), I think it was an impactful decision because the Hawk Moth conflict was Marinette's conflict and it was pretty symbolic to have Marinette fuse the ladybug and black cat miraculouses, seeing as that was the main goal of her nemesis for the entire show.

I liked that Marinette was by herself in the end. It signaled her growth as a hero. She started this arc lacking confidence and relying on reassurance from Cat Noir, and ended it able to defeat the antagonist herself and even offering him help.

If you think Cat Noir should have been there, ask yourself two things: "Would Adrien have gotten any catharsis at all from this fight?" and "Did I want Adrien there just because I wanted the angst of seeing my blorbo going through it?"

#you know it's serious when i use the word 'blorbo' i freaking hate that word #мой пост #recreation

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nanomooselet · 4 months

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My Brother's Keeper (V)

This whole memory retrieval/assimilation scene is interesting for a number of reasons (putting aside the continuous wails of agony emitted watching it; I know I discuss it calmly, but that's because I'm a wizard I compartmentalise/modulate my tone in text. Hooray for incomplete degrees).

In the score, this bit is called "The Memory World of Knives" - these are Knives's memories, ones that he can share with Vash for whatever reason. By that token, then, it's how you can figure out which incidents Knives has direct knowledge of and involvement in.

He remembers the blood-soaked room of withered Plants, of course. Doubt he'll ever forget it. Not because of the Last Run, but because it's when Vash turned on him and their confrontation was put on pause - up until now.

Vash fleeing the SEEDs wreckage in ep 1/8 then entering the Plant room in ep 9, Knives withdrawing, then showing up at Jeneora Rock in ep 3, then finally Vash entering Knives's piano room in July at the end of ep 10, and the confrontation/manipulation/awakening/battle over 11 and 12. It's all a single argument/fight split into parts, separated by over a century.

Funny that the only thing Knives seems to truly regret about it is cutting off Vash's arm. Maybe… maybe because it's the one wound even he can't lie to himself about inflicting. I wonder, does he believe it was his one mistake? If he'd found another way, Vash wouldn't have stuck a gun in his face? Which makes him trying to "fix" it being what clues Vash in that he's being lied to some sublime irony. Vash doesn't trust a world where his brother never hurt him.

Anyway, Knives was obviously there in person to destroy Jeneora Rock, so he remembers that. Knives definitely intended Rosa's rejection to happen when he left her alive (interesting that he only uses her voice, not her appearance. This man has a problem with women) and he would have learned about Tonis's injuries from Zazie via the cage of bug-Worms.

Then comes the crashed ships and the vanishing reporters. Roberto and Meryl don't do anything but stand there looking blank, and that's because Knives doesn't have anything to do with them. He doesn't care to learn what they mean to Vash, so he doesn't bother to twist it. He goes for “oh they'd hate you if they knew about what you've done”, and as Vash's shame makes him vulnerable, he rips them out of Vash's head. That's them disposed of and he doesn't think about them again. (More fool him.)

The guilt that Knives planted in Vash is his primary weapon. Remember that it was his guilt that made Vash want to die in the wake of the Fall. Knives is using it to chip away at his will to resist; every time Vash is reminded of it, he reels and his defences weaken.

Similarly, it's why we don't see that much of Rem and nothing of her post-Tesla except her running into the fire. What we do see of her makes her look rather one-dimensionally nice, well-meaning but suspiciously secretive, and Vash food-obsessed, dorky, clingy, insecure and oblivious. Meanwhile Nai is very clever and perceptive and handsome and perfect and amazing with his super cool powers, just like Rem said. But she didn't actually mean anything to him.

It's conspicuous that he also doesn't actually talk at all about poor Tesla and tries to dismiss her significance ("she was but a grain of sand in the desert of their misdeeds" is a banger line, by the way; the English localisation is always excellent but goes off as the series draws to its climax, and it don't stop 'til the credits roll on the finale). These are the rare points you can find honesty in anything Knives says: via what he omits.

You have to keep in mind throughout this entire sequence that besides the geranium petals and Vash cuddling Rem in the fields of geraniums, Knives is in control. This is his world, and these are his memories that he's using to infiltrate and tear Vash's memories apart. It's not objective - there's no context, for one - nor is it complete. Vash's perspective is absent.

It's actually a bit surprising how rarely Vash's voice comes through in the series. From what I can tell it's mostly Knives's perspective that's assumed.

But oh yes, Knives knows all about the Punisher. He built the Eye of Michael, after all, and Dr. Conrad works for him. Rollo crying out to Vash for salvation that he never received probably came from Dr. Conrad, as well as that it was Wolfwood in the end who killed Monev.

And here we are at last. The dreadful cost and hidden purpose I mentioned all the way back in Part I comes due. Wolfwood's purpose, the poison lacing Knives's helpful gift. He's the viral shell carrying Knives's infection. Because Vash opened his heart to Wolfwood as a friend, he also opened it to Knives.

And so, from the inside, Knives begins inexorably to devour his brother alive.

Knives-the-person wearing the Punisher's face to fire Punisher-the-weapon and kill Rollo/Tonis, the child Vash couldn't save, is his most perfectly constructed and vile feat of manipulation below I did it all for you./Everything I did was for you. It has an almost perversely admirable precision.

Silly Vash. Did he think he'd made a friend in the Punisher? Brought out the goodness in him? The Punisher is a monster, a killer, a weapon and what's more, one who was always being wielded by Knives. He betrayed you; he isn't a good man and he'll never change because humanity never learns. Just like Knives told Vash all those years ago. Was it really "Wolfwood" who Vash loved, or was it only the part of him that was shaped by his real brother? (It's the former because Vash clocked him from the start and could tell Wolfwood never wanted to be the Punisher, but even if Knives wasn't gleefully monologuing he'd never hear it. I hate how much he's enjoying this.)

Everywhere you turn, Vash, and no matter far it is you run, I'll be here for you because I love you. (I won't let you get away.)

How foolish you are, little brother, to have your hopes kindled because you "saved" a monster. One only lives if another dies - and a monster would rather die. You should let it happen. It's a necessary sacrifice. It's mercy. Death is a wonderful thing. (Death is a mercy Tesla never received. And perhaps still hasn't.)

You're too weak to give it to them. That's why they'll never love you as I do. You make the false promise that is hope for salvation, and inevitably you fail to fulfil it, and they will always turn upon you in their despair. (I am the only one who will protect you.)

There is a single promise that you can always keep. Your real purpose. The reason you exist. What a weapon is for. Have mercy. I will wield you. You need not continue to suffer. Don't fight. Submit. Give yourself to me. Let go. Unleash your power.

By the way, literally every single one of the things he's using to heap blame on Vash is Knives's fucking fault and he is the worst brother ever of all time forever and ever amen. And a liar. Knives can never forgive humanity, he says, because only he loves Vash enough to protect him from humanity. Even a human's love, he says, is a leash; contingent upon Vash's charm and usefulness and indistinguishable from hatred...

Knives either lives on opposite planet or he's secretly human.

And still. And yet.

I pity him.

(Okay. We're in the home stretch now, guys - and believe me, I deeply appreciate your support - but you might want to brace yourself.)

(Part I)

(Part II)

(Part III)

(Part IV)

(Part VI)

(Part VII)

#trigun stampede #trigun meta #vash the stampede #nicholas d. wolfwood #millions knives #tristampparty #waffled a bit on the imagery but yeah actually knives IS a pathogen #bacteriophage bombs etc #his blades make him look like a paralysis tick #once he withdraws them vash drifts downward. empty #it took a lot of willpower to avoid typing “you dick” over and over in allcaps throughout most of this #i hate him #terrible terrible plant man #tw abuse #so much abuse #meta: my brother's keeper

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cat-downthestreet · 2 months

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Okay, everyone... It's time to talk- really talk- about Furina.

I cannot be the only one who is angry at the people of Fontaine for their treatment of her.

I mean, they loved Furina. She was their mascot- the true representation of justice in Fontaine. And we all know how it goes- Furina was placed in the role of the new archon, and then had to pretend to be haughty and self-important to gain her nation's approval. That's bad enough.

But Fontaine wasn't exactly at fault for that. They couldn't have known how painful it would be for her to act the part of their archon. They didn't even know it was just an act. So what made me so furious about their treatment of Furina? Not that. Though that certainly added onto the mess that played out during the archon quest.

No, what got to me was the humiliation they put Furina through, followed by their abandonment of her.

The trial was bad enough. Furina was ripped apart, put on the spot, and unable to defend herself without risking the safety of Fontaine (which I have a few questions about the validity of that statement, but I digress). And then the truth was revealed.

Except it wasn't.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Neuvillette keep what he found out about Furina and Focalors to himself? Fontaine never learned about the pain she went through over those 500 years. They only learned that Furina was a "fraud" and a mere human. All they saw was a human who pretended to be a god in place of their true archon, and they probably even believed Furina had done something to their true god so she could pretend to be the vessel of justice. I'd believe that if I found out my idol was a fake. But that's just speculation on my part.

The point is, Fontaine doesn't know that Furina is the human counterpart to Focalors. They don't know that the divine part of Focalors is already dead. They don't even know the truth about the prophecy or why Furina had to pretend to be their archon.

All they know is that their perceived deity was a fraud all along and their real god is nowhere to be seen.

And that leaves a lot to the imagination, a lot that can be filled in with lies and delusions...

...delusions that say Furina is the reason why their real god is gone.

No one knew how hard Furina tried to prevent anyone from dissolving. No one knows how important it was that Furina told no one who she really was and pretended to be their god for so long. No one knew how much it tormented Furina to isolate herself and pretend to be someone she wasn't. No one knew that the entire reason why Furina did this was because she loved her people and wanted Fontaine to be safe.

No, all the people of Fontaine knew was that their "god" was a fraud and presumably had done nothing to protect the nation from the rising waters. All they knew was that Furina had failed to save Poisson before the disaster struck.

The people of Fontaine only see Furina as a failure and a fraud, nothing more.

The real tragedy though? It's that Neuvillette knew what Furina had gone through for so long.

Yet he said nothing when Furina was cast aside post-flood. He said nothing when the people of Poisson shunned her for her failure to act.

But worst of all, he failed to make sure Furina was okay when all was said and done.

For all the remorse Neuvillette seemed to show upon learning of Furina's story, he barely seemed to care about her after the flood.

He, just like the rest of Fontaine, forgot about her and left her behind.

Furina was left to rot by her people, her other half, and even the closest thing she ever had to a friend.

That's the true irony of Fontaine.

The mascot of justice, unjustly humiliated and forgotten in front of and by her own nation.

I've never heard of a crueler fate.

And don't forget- Furina doesn't even know who she is anymore. How much harder do you think that is for someone who has nothing and no one to turn to?

Even the Traveler mocked her and only cared about her for answers about their sibling.

Furina has no one, is no one, and will be remembered as no one. Except as a fraud, a failure, and an egomaniac. Because that is the role she was forced into.

Focalors was deluding herself. Furina could never be free to act as whoever she wanted. Furina was always doomed to play the same part, and she was always doomed to be hated and ultimately forgotten by her own people.

And all we, the Traveler, did to "help" her, was to force her to take the stage again.

Also, do you really, honestly believe that Furina started acting again during her story quest solely because she has a passion for it?

No. It's familiar. And it's all she has left.

Furina only took to acting again because we forced her into it, and she only chose to continue because it's all she knows how to do.

Furina is truly the most tragic character in all of Genshin.

#furina #furina de fontaine #focalors #fontaine #genshin impact #genshin

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mariacallous · 2 months

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There’s a nasty not-so-secret secret no one likes to talk about, so it’s best to start there: Black women are among the most hated demographic worldwide. In America especially, anti-Blackness is the air. It’s everywhere even when you can’t see it. From the ivory halls of Washington to C-suites at Fortune 500 companies, Blackness is treated as less than. And because that is how it works and how it has worked generation after generation, not even Beyoncé, currently the most commanding force in music, can escape the fangs of misogynoir.

Tell me if you’ve heard this one before: A Black woman was told she did not belong, that she was not welcome in a certain space, so she paved a path all her own. That’s the story Beyoncé recounted in an Instagram post in March, the day she announced her new country album, Cowboy Carter. “The criticisms I faced when I first entered this genre forced me to propel past the limitations that were put on me,” she wrote. Unlike other musical genres, country is infamous in who it chooses to exclude. The genre’s history is rife with allegiances to the old ways of American prejudice, and no bearing or social position can change that.

The sweet irony, of course, is that now we have Cowboy Carter, the second installment in a three-act project of historical and musical restoration that Beyoncé began in 2022 with Renaissance, her dance-floor tribute to house music. She is on a mission to reclaim her time. The rare artist who can pull off such a canny move, Beyoncé now represents something bigger than music. She’s an industry unto herself: swaggering and audacious in reach, with a built-in fan base that anticipates every album drop, Instagram post, and product release. Whether you agree with the motivations behind her work or not (and there are valid criticisms to be made for artists who create at such a grand scale as her; mass influence in all arenas of life necessitates questioning, there’s no denying that), no other contemporary Black musician will bring more awareness to country’s gated meadowlands—its past, present, and possible futures—than Beyoncé. If nothing else, she gets people talking.

“I’d like to actually thank the CMAs for pissing her off,” X user @gardenoutro wrote Friday morning, just past midnight, in the hour following the album’s official release, calling attention to Beyoncé’s 2016 performance with the Chicks that was later shunned by Country Music Association members. Where Lemonade was scorned memoir and Renaissance flirted with fantasy—a disco-lit dreamscape where freedom and love have no inverse—Cowboy Carter unravels like autofiction, blending biography with novelistic flair on songs like “Daughter” and “Spaghettii.” It takes country into uncharted terrain. “It’s easy to listen to 27 tracks when they’re all good,” songwriter Rob Milton wrote on X.

That’s the other thing about the Beyoncé Effect: There is no room for dissent in her universe. Online, and particularly across social media, new albums of hers are given billboard status. It is cause for celebration but rarely one for challenge or sharp inquiry.

“A lot of people still want to join in with something larger than themselves. Fandom offers them a way to do that. It is not, though, entirely a utopian space,” says Mark Duffett, a professor at the University of Chester who researches fandom. “The concerns and issues that society has are mirrored in fan communities. They do not escape from being part of the wider social world.”

As powerful as her music can be, the release of a Beyoncé album exposes the fiction of a shared internet. There is not one but many. In its most intense form, fan logic thrives in isolation. On Beyoncé’s internet, as with comparable fan cultures, logic finds comfort in the sideways geometry of the echo chamber. Its reasoning animorphs into blind zealotry, wagging its finger in the face of disagreement. Fan logic butts against balanced judgment. It has led Barbs (Nicki Minaj fans), Beliebers (Justin Bieber fans), Hive members (Beyoncé fans), and the like into a cycle of heated confrontation, and sometimes wild irrationality.

Brittany Luse wasn't expecting death threats when she commented about a Cowboy Carter ad that was projected onto the front of the Guggenheim Museum, but she also knew “the Hive can be so intense in their defense of any criticism of Beyoncé, let alone any perceived slight. So I wasn't expecting nothing to happen.” Luse is the host of NPR’s pop culture podcast It’s Been a Minute and a fan of the singer. “I maintain a pretty low-key presence online, so over the years, I’ve only dealt with wild social media attacks a handful of times, with the Swifties or the manosphere, but never death threats. They probably should have stressed me out, but they mostly just confounded me. I said I didn’t like an ad, and now you want me to choke? That’s too much.”

That, more than anything, is the tenor of fandom on the internet today: Perceived disloyalty is met with Tony Soprano–style intimidation. The rise and permanence of social media has led, in part, to the decomposition of fan culture. Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram brought us closer together. Platforms that prized connection boosted the careers of artists from burgeoning to box office stars. But it had costs, Luse says. Instant access to celebrities rewired our relationships entirely.

“You can find seemingly endless content from your fave and befriend other fans more easily than ever before. Of course that would bring people joy,” she says. “But that constant, instant access also at least partially fuels an us-against-them mindset that puts some people into attack mode over their favorite artist.”

But perhaps the problem is not that such intense fandoms exist, but where they take root and make a home. “Another thing that has happened is that fans might be talking on social media to each other in ways that they do not necessarily anticipate nonfans will seek out or understand,” Duffett says. “It raises the question of whether a community can keep to itself and yet communicate in a public space.”

Beyoncé represents a monoculture at a moment when monocultures have gone all but extinct. For her, extreme fandom is both anchor and ascendence. There are downsides, unquestionably so, but the people who power Beyoncé’s platform provide a necessary function too: When the door has been slammed in her face and she’s told she’s not welcome inside, or when the Recording Academy twice overlooks her for Album of the Year, it is her fans who give her the authority to reboot country music in her image, and perhaps, in doing so, chart a new course altogether. “It would be cool if she never mentioned the Grammys again,” Luse said on X. “When you can do all this, who cares?”

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scary-white · 8 months

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What are your favorite Carrie fics?

Here ya go, anon. I made a post like this a couple years ago, but it needed an update. This features some shameless self-promos. Sorry, not sorry. ❤️

Fix-its:

All You Ever Wanted to Find by boyscoutpaladin

Sue is totally fine with the idea of missing her senior prom. That is, until Tommy comes to her with an idea: both of them should take Carrie White to the prom.

Saving Grace by scary_white

Sue Snell is a bit more determined to help Carrie after the events of the prom, and isn't so willing to let her go down without a fight-- Or to let her go down at all. As long as Sue has anything to say about it, Carrie White is going to live.

enjoy life right now (as long as you can breathe) by @homosandhomies

Enjoying life is not sinful.

Fix-it of Sorts:

Upper Cut by palletesofrenaissance

I always wondered what a different ending would be like, and due to a restless night I wrote this down. Ideas thought about include: In today's time, would everyone have laughed at Carrie at prom or would they have more sympathy? How big of a destruction would have happened as a result? What if Sue had called out and Tommy moved out the way? What about the additional use of technology? How would Sue's teen pregnancy reveal go over with her parents? A sort of "fix-it" with a semi-happy ending because I was curious and I wanted to, plus this year has been scary enough.

Three Body Problem by Tamoline

After being banned from Prom, Chris decides to yell at Carrie from Billy's car. This starts a chain of events which sends things spinning down a very different path.

Sue/Carrie:

After Party by bread_bird

There was a dead girl in the passenger seat of Sue Snell’s car. Or, in the wake of the Black Prom, Sue and Carrie get the hell out of dodge and make a new life for themselves. Together.

wondrous miracles for our ancestors, in those days, at this moment by @homosandhomies

Carrie celebrates Hanukkah with Sue and her family.

the ties that bind by janie_tangerine

She’ll have to deal with the fact that Carrie White is her soulmate later, because Chris Hargensen is still throwing the damned tampons at her and the entire room is screaming plug it up and she’s there standing and unable to move and feeling like she’ll throw up and Carrie’s voice goes into a shriek as she screams help me all over again and fuck, it’s obviously period blood and it makes no sense she'd react like this but she is and it’s mixing with too much blood that no one else can see apparently — “Christ,” she shouts, shoving whoever was in between the two of them out of the way, then glares at Chris Hargensen, who at least shuts up — out of surprise, most probably, but better than nothing. “What the hell is wrong with you all?”

Homecoming Queens by scary_white

In a universe where Sue befriends Carrie rather than having Tommy take her to prom, things fold out very differently.

Horror:

Reunion by Scioscribe

Sue hears stories about Carrie White

The Monster in the Lake by Scioscribe

It's a hot June morning at Christian Youth Camp, and the lake is as warm as blood.

Sweet Sweet Vengeance (Sweet Sweet Irony) by scary_white

Sue Snell is present at prom when Chris Hargensen plays her nasty trick on Carrie White. Stricken by the loss of her boyfriend, Sue follows Carrie out of the gym before she can come back for the carnage. When they see Chris and her boyfriend pull speeding out of the parking lot, Carrie gets an idea and the two embark on a mission for sweet revenge.

#carrie stephen king #carrie white #carrie #carrie the musical #carrie 1976 #carrie 2002 #carrie 2013 #asks #fanfiction #carrie fanfic

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compacflt · 9 months

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I was wondering if you had thoughts about how Ice and Mav's politics don't fully align with their actions? There was a post where you said Ice's politics are more socially liberal than Mav's but Mav is also the one who goes out to La Jolla to hit on guys before Ice, and later again when he's broken up with Ice, but Ice only goes out with women out of fear for his honor or whatever. Same with their respective thoughts on feminism, with Mav's mild respect for Charlie (telling Ice not all women fit the stereotype) but later Ice is the one who sends Juno to Mav's Top Gun class without telling him she's a woman and Ice has a respectful friendship with Juno. I think you said Ice is vaguely on the ace-aro spectrum (demi-homoromantic) which is a sort of fascinating irony that he doesn't have the words for it whereas Mav is the one with the theories about Ice's sexuality. Though with their hypocrisies and inconsistencies this all just feeds into their characterizations of the fact that they keep divorcing their actions from their spoken words from their identities.

okay going to take this point by point

1. yes i have addressed their politics in relation to their actions before, so maybe read this post and this post before you read this one, just to see where my other thoughts line up

2. gay republicans and conservatives do exist (at the very least certainly republicans and conservatives who have gay sex in secret)

3. before maverick is a political actor he is a human being, and the characterization that we are primarily given for him is that he is impulsive and reckless and doesn’t think through his actions. As ive written about many times before—from a story construction standpoint, his thoughtlessness is his number one most important character trait. He is both thoughtlessly dangerous (his hero’s “fatal flaw;” he can’t stop himself from making bad decisions) and thoughtlessly brilliant (the navy’s best and most daring and heroic pilot). He does what he wants without thinking about it; and he makes excuses and hollow promises whenever that plan doesn’t work out (“I know better than that. It will never ever happen again;” [it happens again] “I’m not gonna let you down. I promise.” [goose dies shortly thereafter]). His thoughtless impulsiveness overrides everything else. Maybe the act of having gay sex (to address your “he gets fucked in La Jolla before ice” point) is politically subversive, but for Maverick’s thoughtless character that we are shown in Top Gun, the most subversive possible thing would be to LABEL the gay sex and think through the consequences of it. To call a spade a spade and call himself gay or bi or queer or whatever. That would be the most subversive (and with mav, entirely unbelievable imo) possible thing. That takes conscious effort of thought, something maverick is near-incapable of doing. As long as he can get away with it without thinking about it, he’s politically in the clear, with regards to his character & character arc. If that makes sense. “Don’t think. Just do.” That’s literally his motto lmfao. He represents thoughtless action as an archetype; his politics come secondary to his desires

4. Their “respective thoughts on feminism” are divided into two camps: 1. “Professional as required by the law” and 2. “Sex pest mode.” They’re naval officers in the 1980s. Whether republican or democrat, that’s kind of par for the course. How men treat women can be a performance to other men. Any respect i made them show towards women had broader, more metatextual “need to move the conversation/story from A to B” reasoning behind it. See the first post I linked for much more on that.

5. i never said ice was on the ace/aro spectrum, or if i did i DEFINITELY meant it sarcastically. That could not be further from what i believe. This isn’t something I’ve ever discussed on this blog before, but a MASSIVE part of the philosophical discussion I’ve been trying to moderate within this project over the last year is the question— “do labels even work with characters under these very specific and extraordinarily extreme conditions and societal pressures?” It’s a question I took from my time studying early American history—the contexts of certain environments, and I would definitely count the elite officer ranks of the navy in the 90s and 2000s as one of these certain environments, simply Are Not Conducive to the easier (path of least resistance maybe) ways we civilians handle sexuality and friendship and trauma. There are so many variables and external and internal pressures within an environment like the upper ranks of career navy officers that sexual orientation labels lose all nuance and accuracy. I don’t think Ice (as i have written him) is gay. I don’t think he’s straight. I don’t think he’s bi. I think he’s an unlabelable product of too many variables for labels to have any effect on how he is perceived. Which, in our society built around labels and categories, is admittedly difficult to wrestle with. But doesn’t make it any less worth wrestling with.

6. Yes, ice and mav’s hypocrisy is the linchpin of the entire story.

They’re both trying to have their cake (“honor” and moral superiority based on the harmful traditional subjective morals arbitrated by elite navy officership) and eat it too (a fulfilling relationship with the love of their lives). & the point is that they cant. they have to settle for one.

#adam & eve can either stay in eden or eat from the tree of knowledge. but the moral authority told them not to eat; so they can’t have both #or—they can have both but they can’t ACKNOWLEDGE having both; they have to keep it a secret even from themselves. that way it’s not sin.#(the navy is ice/mav’s religious institution as i keep repeating)#re: ice and labels.#like i am both joking and not joking when i say he’s mavericksexual #simply because maverick represents both the guilt Ice must deal with re: the death of a friend #AND the recklessness that would inspire him to realize (in the actionable sense of the word) the full extent of his sexuality #no one else can do that. he and maverick were made for each other like that.#same thing where ice is the only one who can legitimize maverick in the eyes of their overbearing institution.#they’re made for each other in a way that imo transcends sexuality and labels.#I’m not going to touch the politics of ‘demi-‘ labels because i know people feel very strongly about it #and you come to me for Top Gun not necessarily my thoughts on modern identity politics #but suffice to say i don’t believe either ice or mav are demi anything.#they’re just guys. they’ve killed people and killed with each other and killed for each other. they don’t need labels. just let them be #tom iceman kazansky #pete maverick mitchell #top gun #icemav #top gun maverick #asks #edts notes #thanks for the ask! hope it isn’t coming off as aggressive or argumentative #* argumentative yes. you can argue with me.#but the labeling issue has been on my mind since DAY ONE & influenced much of how i wrote the story #human beings are so much more complex than most labels give us credit for

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disappearingsisterruth · 6 months

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as I suspected the finished project is too big so fuck it I'm just posting my favourite frame because I'm actually kind of happy with this silliness. The frame alone looks like a fanfic cover so please go write a fanfic that is the entire story through Livia's perspective. I have a good Livia & Tiberius fic to recommend!

Love how all the characters in the show who are mentioned to eat figs eventually find their end at Livia's hands. Augustus is the most memorable one but Julia and Postumus also have a few scenes with figs I find memorable and weirdly enough they even have a member of the Claudian family warning them, just like Livia warned him, but these do it without any irony or knowledge. Good foreshadowing in my opinion!

Antonia: What a polite boy! And how well he speaks Latin. Julia, not another fig. Julia: Figs are good for you. You sound just like Lucius. - Episode 3, Waiting in the Wings

Claudius: P-P-Poisoned? Augustus: Taste that. Postumus: Yum. Augustus: You know, there's nothing quite like a piece of food picked fresh from a tree, or a field or a stalk. Postumus: It's very nice, but you didn't ask me here to taste the figs. - Episode 4, What Shall We Do About Claudius

Livia: Are you feeling better? There's a delegation here from Rome. They're waiting to see you. Eh, you're a fine one. You made yourself worse with all those figs. I never heard anything so ridiculous. I only came on this journey to look after you, and you won't let me or anyone else cook for you. It's very embarrassing, you know. People might think we were trying to poison you. I sent for Tiberius. Fortunately, he wasn't too far away. He'll be here soon. Well, I thought you might want to see him. And he'll do everything that has to be done. Hasn't he always? Of course...you two haven't always seen eye to eye. But that hasn't been entirely his fault, you know that, don't you? You were always inclined to favor one over the other. I've often spoken to you about it. You made fish of one and foul of the other so often that no one knew where he was or what he was. You should have listened to me more. You should have. You know that, don't you? I've been right more often than you have, you know. But because I was a woman, you pushed me into the background. Oh, yes...yes, you did. And all I ever wanted was for you and for Rome. Nothing I ever did was for myself. Nothing. Only for you...and for Rome. As a Claudian should. Oh, yes, my dear. I'm a Claudian. I think you are apt to forget that at times. But I never did. No. Never. No. Tiberius: How is he? Livia: He's dead. Augustus is dead. Tiberius: The earth will shake. Livia: I must go and see the senators and the consuls from Rome. Stay with him till I return. By the way... don't touch the figs. - Episode 5, Poison is Queen

Claudius: And what about Augustus? Did you poison him? Livia: Yes. Yes, I did. I smeared the poison on the figs while they were still on the tree. I had no choice. He would only eat them if he'd picked them himself. It took me all night to do it. - Episode 7, Queen of Heaven

Also, I don't think this as an actual intended motif in the show or book but I love associating snakes to Livia.

"They say a snake bit her once and died" - Episode 2, Family Affairs

"Poison is queen" - Episode 5, Poison is Queen

the "my beloved smother" trope and how it applies to Tiberius & Livia among her saturnal impulses

the very first thing we see in the show being an adder that crawls her way through the screen on all episodes

the way she spoke of Cleopatra (who in common belief died by having a cobra bite her breast) was also kind of odd??? the tone she used was weirdly self-incriminatory even if I know she had nothing to do with it (she couldn't have, could she???)

Livilla: They say you were the most beautiful woman in the world. Livia: There was one other, but she was in Egypt. And, besides, she didn't last as long as I did. - Episode 4, What Shall We Do About Claudius?

to some extent I can't help but think of the poisoned figs and her "encouraging" Augustus to make only a farce out of the republic and becoming the de facto emperor as somewhat similar to Eve and her forbidden fruit. Both narratives are misogynistic and I am very passionate about defending Eve but I won't deny that I really enjoy this Livia even if I find it lazy to consider her the only ambitious one when HER HUSBAND WAS LITERALLY AUGUSTUS.

If for some reason you read all this but haven't seen the show, 1. Thank you, that's nice of you, 2. Go watch it! It's free on YouTube in english, castellano, deutsch and legendado em português.

#my stuff #I claudius #fanfic rec

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sat0sugu-angst · 2 years

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This is a teaser for the first part of my newest fic "A Fortunate Misunderstanding"

You can read the full first part here

MDNI

part 1 "Uninteresting"

"Hero Critic Y/n of the Daily Post says number two hero Dynamite is 'not interesting enough' to write about"

It's a splashy headline from your interview with your longtime friend and colleague Shawn Collins, and you roll your eyes when you read the tweet. "That's not even what the interview is focused on. You're misleading your audience." You scolded over the phone, even though you're trying to quell the rush of anxiety in the pit of your stomach.

"It's not my fault Dynamite's fan base is so easily exploited. My editor said it would get views." You don't bother hiding your eye roll, not like he could see it anyway. "Besides, the interview was on your opinions of Japan's top heroes, and the only time you mentioned him was to say that. He's the number two hero, I have to point out the irony."

You scoff, but you're glad Shawn couldn't see the blush on your cheeks. Well, you think dryly, it's not like I could've put on the record why I really don't write about him.

"Still, you didn't have to insinuate that I thought Dynamite was uninteresting. That's not what I said."

It wasn't because you didn't see his flaws, didn't think he wasn't a hot-headed jackass, but you didn’t like feeling misrepresented. Because at the end of the day, no matter his downfalls, you felt nothing but adoration for the hero.

Well, adoration and a little bit horny, but either way, despite your reputation as a merciless hero critic, you didn't want any criticism about the number two hero to be published with your name attached. And you couldn't write praise about him either, not when you built your career on criticizing the hero industry.

"Well, people will see that when they watch the interview."

If they even bother, you think irritably. You could tell no matter what you said though, that he didn’t and wouldn't care enough about your qualms with the headline to change it. "Whatever. You're welcome for the interview." You said dryly, picking at your takeout.

"You still coming tomorrow?"

You sigh. You weren't entirely sure you wanted to get dressed up to go to the office party tomorrow, but you figured it'd be better than not going and being anti social. "Yeah, at eight, right?"

—————————————————————————————————

"Oi, Bakugo, did you see what that journalist said about you?" Denki said, approaching the bar with his phone raised.

Katsuki grunted, annoyed at his friend's obnoxious behavior. "I don't care what some extra has to say about me. Should be fucking grateful I'm so good at my job."

"Well, you may be good at it, but apparently, you're not very interesting." Mina said with a smirk a few seats down, having already seen the interview.

That caught his attention. A lot of words had been lobbed at him throughout his nearly ten year career, but uninteresting wasn't one of them. He was quiet as he took the phone from Denki, reading the headline. There it was in black and white, some journalist did think he was uninteresting. He wasn't sure why it pissed him off, that word, more than any of the other things he'd been called. No, he knew exactly why it pissed him off.

"S'not fuckin' true. What an idiot. Can't believe he gets paid to write garbage like this."

"Well, the one who wrote the article isn't the one who said it. It's the one who got interviewed."

"Who'd care to interview some idiot with this opinion?"

"Don't take it so personally, Bakugo," Kirishima said with an easy smile, clapping him on the shoulder. Bakugo made a face. "She burns all of us way more than she does you."

"Yeah, that stuff kinda hurts sometimes. I'd take uninteresting over incompetent." Denki said with a sigh.

Mina laughed. "Except everything she writes about you is true."

The two proceeded to bicker, but Bakugo was still pouting, swirling the amber liquor in his glass before finishing it off. "Whatever. If I ever see that damn reporter I'll chew her head off." He grumbled.

Kirishima let out a nervous laugh. "Watch what you say in public, Bakugo. Some people don't know when you're joking."

He was about to say he wasn't joking, that he would confront the extra who thought she was better than him, when Sero on his other side held up a picture of a woman.

"Well, this is her, if you're curious. I'd leave her alone if I were you, though. She may be a hero critic, but she has a pretty big following."

When he zeroed in on your face, it only took him a second to remember where he knew you from. His crimson eyes narrowed.

Interesting.

—————————————————————————————————

You took a sip of wine as you turned from the bar, surveying the ballroom, windows dressed in heavy golden curtains, adding a touch of extravagance that was too overstated for the office party. Though, you couldn’t turn your nose down at the open bar. Even though the event was to wine and dine Japan’s heroes, you were still surprised by how many pro heroes were here. You thought you’d even spotted Red Riot’s fiery red hair on your way over to the bar, probably the highest-ranking hero here.

After painfully dry conversation with some coworkers, you and Shawn broke off.

“How long do you think we have to stay before it’s okay to leave?” You wondered after a beat. Office parties weren’t really your thing. It was awkward, toeing the line of the you at the office and the you outside the office. You didn’t want people think that you were stiff, but one glass of wine too much and you’d end up fodder for workplace gossip.

Shawn laughed beside you. “You’ve been here less than an hour. At least put some mileage on that dress.”

You sighed, looking down at the navy evening dress. You suppose he had a point; it was expensive.

You opened your mouth to speak, when your eyes zeroed in on a hulking figure walking in your direction, crimson eyes narrowed. Your stomach dropped as Dynamite, the number two hero, approached you.

—————————————————————————————————

You can read the rest here

taglist: @asmaechan @animexholic @inumakicanrailme @justanothernpcartist

masterlist

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randomshyperson · 2 years

Text

Rulers of The Multiverse - Wanda Maximoff x Reader - Chapter Nine

Summary: Strange’s faulty spell will cause a series of unexpected events, from your reunion with the love of your life in another world to the appearance of a child capable of traveling across the multiverse. This story follows the journey of a very tired Guardian alongside mischievous America Chavez and Scarlet Witch.

Warnings: (+18) explicit language and sexual content, violence, a lot of magic, found family, mentions of abusive past and trauma, mind control, use of illicit substances, mostly top!reader, soulmates analogies. CW: sexual mentions, angst || Words: 8.082k

A/N-> Hey dears, I'm going to make the uploads daily because my vacation is running out and I want to post this entirely before I go back to work. Attention to the angst of this chapter, I think things will improve from here. Italic texts are memories/flashbacks.

General Masterlist | AO3 | Wattpad | Series Masterlist

--//--

Chapter Nine - A Shattered Home

Wanda should be asleep, but since what happened earlier, she has become even more worried.

Your magic had muffled Chthon's voices, but as she tried to fall asleep, the first thing she dreamed of was your death. So she woke up in a jump and did her best to leave the cube quietly.

You should see a doctor the next day, and depending on what was said about your condition, find a solution as soon as possible. Wanda saw your sleeping figure on the top bed and felt her chest tighten, imagining the feeling of losing you too.

She pushed those thoughts away, and left the room, finding a train station that, although less busy, seemed as awake as day.

A lady passed by with a candy cart and offered her some food, and after not being able to eat anything all day, she accepted some sweet cookies and made her way to one of the edges, from where she could watch the trains coming and going from the station below.

About fifteen minutes later, you came out of the cube wearing a jacket and approached her.

"Hey, sweetheart." You greeted her, and Wanda - who could feel your presence even when she was on another continent, snuggled closer to your body as soon as you stopped next to her - turned her head and smiled in greeting, before turning her attention back to the trains. "How are you feeling?"

Wanda raised an eyebrow at you with a certain irony.

"I should ask you that question." She retorts, slipping her arm around your waist, and causing you to laugh softly. But it takes a moment for you to respond, your giggle turning into a long sigh.

"I feel kind of queasy."

Wanda swallows dryly. "Do you want to go back to sleep?"

"Nah, I have a promise to keep." You retort without hesitation.

"Y/N, we don't have to..."

"I want to." You interrupt her, rubbing your nose against hers affectionately and making her smile. "I wanna be honest with you."

Wanda nods, hugging you for a moment before pulling away, tugging you by the hand toward the small terrace she saw earlier on the way to the Cube.

You both sit on the grass - everything was so clean and cared for in that world that it surprised you sometimes - and sigh softly at the same time.

"I think we're in for a long night, so what do you say we let our astral projections do the work, while we look up at this beautiful starry sky?" You suggest, intertwining one of Wanda's hands with yours in your lap. She smiles, reaching up to give you a kiss on the cheek before snuggling in closer.

"That's a great idea." She whispers, looking up at the same moment as you.

So far, Wanda had seen a few dozen memories of your childhood during the few days you were staying at Carol Danvers' inn.

She found that eventually, Agamotto grew into you and convinced you to turn your anger into willpower, or whatever lesson he tried to teach you and you pretended to learn.

Wanda saw memories of your training - increasingly difficult and demanding - and of you finding out that your parents were living in the United States through a letter.

"I think you should go see them." One of your colleagues, when you must have been about 14 or 15, had commented during a training session. He was one of the other sorcerers who received Oshtur's blessing and was being trained as a Knight of the Order just like you.

Your younger version giggled as you defended yourself from the blow with a much more skillful move than when you were a child.

"If they hadn't sent us away, my brother would still be here." That's what you said before you attacked again. Your friend sighed wearily, trying to defend himself, but you were much faster and knocked him down without difficulty. Before you landed the last blow, another stick came in front of you and stopped the fight.

"Cheaters offend the honor of Oshtur" Declared the master, hitting you in the left leg and knocking you to your knees on the ground. He struck his staff again, and yours flew away, glowing runes becoming visible and then fading.

You grimaced. "What's the point of us having ways to be stronger and not being allowed to use it, Master Mordo?"

Mordo shook his head in disapproval. "You understand nothing about the morals of a Knight of the Order, foolish child."

Getting up, you ignored Mordo to help your friend to his feet, and the other boy seemed to be a bit taken aback by the interaction. "I just understand that even the gods will cheat, and foolish is not being prepared for it." That's what you mutter between teeth, before receiving a warning blow accompanied by the punishment command.

Mordo steps out in front, and your colleague pats you on the shoulder.

"He's just upset because you defeated his apprentice." He comments making you laugh.

Training memories were always like this, you doing something you shouldn't, from disobeying to using forbidden runes, and continuing to be the best fighter even while fighting honestly.

So far, Wanda's favorite memory was of the day you met her variant.

You were typically running away from training with Mordo, and sitting on a lower, more isolated balcony of the Kamar Taj, your legs swinging from the opening as you looked down toward a noisy camp.

"Watching the Romani again, Y/N?" Agamotto's voice made you stand up in fright, wiping some dust from your pants.

"Sorry, Master." You mumbled - and for the first time in many memories, you sounded embarrassed - with your head down. Agamotto gave a chuckle, the golden cape standing out in that late afternoon.

"You must have seen something interesting to skip your training for the third time this week alone." Says the master in a suggestive tone, and despite the soft pink appearing on your cheeks, you clear your throat.

"I just like the dances, Master." You mutter. "And they seem to have fun."

"Hmm, I imagine they do." Says the man approaching to take the seat you were previously sitting in. He does not lower himself but rests his hands on the edge to look down as well. He waits for you to join his side to speak again. "They must leave soon, their people never stay long in one place." He says, and you don't notice his curious eyes studying your reaction because you are becoming slightly crestfallen. "This may be your last chance to talk to the girl."

You raise your face in shock, your cheeks very red. "W-what? What girl, I don't-"

"You saw her this afternoon, didn't you? When you went to deliver the week's donations. I noticed your distraction all day."

You gave up denial, nodding and looking down, a group of colorful clothes dancing in circles, several candles lit all around while the others clapped their hands.

"At least ask her name, before you go to America." Your master says, offering you an encouraging smile.

You waited for Agamotto to enter the temple, and took a deep breath before sliding over the edge and climbing down until you reached the ground, jumping on the ground half panting.

A boy was running that way and was startled when you suddenly jumped up out of the dirt, and you widened your eyes because he practically teleported behind a rock, and you wouldn't have noticed his presence if you weren't a sorceress.

"Hey, sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." You tried clumsily, being able to hear his loud breathing even though he remained hidden. "I, um, don't mind if you're a mutant..."

"Pietro!" Someone called out from a distance, attracting your attention, and of course, your luck wasn't so good, because it had to be just the girl you were looking for.

The Pietro of your universe had bleached hair from childhood, and as soon as he ran close to the twin, you saw the silver flash hide behind the enraged little girl.

"Hey, are you harassing my brother?" She questioned angrily, and you quickly denied it, your face very red.

"N-no, I scared him but it was an accident-"

"Come, Pietro, let's go back to camp." She cut you off impatiently, and you exclaimed in desperation, taking a step forward when she turned around.

"No, wait! I just wanted to know your name."

The girl makes a suspicious face at you. "And why is that?"

But your cheeks flushed more, and you didn't answer. She let out an impatient sigh and turned around, and you let her go.

Wanda - the adult version - raised an eyebrow at you, a short smile on her lips.

"Did you get tongue-tied by seeing me?" She teased softly, and you let out a loud, embarrassed grumble.

"I was 15 and it was the most beautiful girl in the world, leave me alone." You retorted making her laugh softly.

"Don't worry, I thought it was cute." She says before focusing on the next memory.

Wanda watched the tense and confrontational meeting with parents who had no regrets about sending their mutant son away - though they still had guilt and grief over the loss, and your decision to try to be a family again in spite of everything.

Agamotto didn't like the idea of putting the Knight's training on the back burner, but he understood your connection to your family. But when the Avengers recruitment happened, and you reunited with Wanda, no one was happy with your complete lack of interest in returning.

There were many flashbacks of memories that ranged from the low prioritization of your lessons to you not showing up at all and Agamotto visiting the Tower as a last resort. Your first discussion with the master took place and you confessed to him that you had no desire to become a knight, and all the master answered in return was that he didn't recognize you anymore.

Your Wanda found you on the roof.

"That sounded pretty bad." She commented announcing her own arrival, and you quickly wiped away the tears. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"I don't have much to say." You say with a weak smile, and once she is close enough, you slip your arms around her shoulders. "Between going to a temple full of old men telling me what to do or think and stay with the most special girl in the whole world , the choice is pretty obvious no?"

Although Wanda blushes at your compliment, she frowns slightly. "But Y/N, if it is your destiny..."

"My destiny is you, Wanda Maximoff." You whisper leaning your forehead against hers. "You will always be my priority." You assured before bringing your mouths together.

Despite these sweet moments and the vows you made to her, Wanda watched the memories of arguments and conflicts increase over the years. There was a very deep complicity and devotion between you two, but there was also a lot of guilt and emotional dependence.

When you began to fail a lot on missions, both because of your ruthless nature and the fact that you were a different kind of sorcerer and had simply abandoned your training, your Wanda insisted that you return to the Kamar Taj.

"I don't understand why you are bringing up this subject again!" You complained impatiently as you walked out of the shower room with a towel around your body. You were in the bedroom of the apartment you shared with Wanda, and the girl was sitting on the bed with a very annoyed expression.

"Y/N, you blew Bucky's metal arm off-"

"It was an accident!" You interrupted in the same tone, throwing the towel on the bed to put on your underwear. "He's fine and no one was hurt."

"You're losing control of your magic!" She insists impatiently, moving to hold your shoulders because you refuse to look at her, and despite the grimace, you don't reject her touch. "Please listen to me, okay? I'm getting worried about you. How long has it been since you've slept properly? You can barely watch a soccer game without destroying the TV, you can't drive anymore because you get too nervous, and you've burned our car six times and-"

"Wanda, I'm not going back to that place, I don't want that life anymore."

"What life?" She questions pleadingly. "We are already superheroes! I'm just asking you to look for help to stop hurting others and-"

"Hurt others?" You cut her off, pulling away from her touch. "Oh, good Wanda, I get it. All I do is cause you trouble so you're sending me away to make me someone else's responsibility."

"I never said that." Wanda retorts indignantly, but you ignore her to finish putting on your clothes. "Y/N."

You only look at her when you already have your shoes in hand. "Don't wait up for me."

Wanda's eyes well up with tears, but for the most part, she is just as stubborn and proud as you are, so she watches you leave and slam the door.

"My god, you two were impossible." The redheaded Wanda commented beside you, managing a soft chuckle.

"You mean you."

She rolled her eyes with amusement. "I think I would have tied you to the bed until you quit being stubborn."

"Hmm, kinky." You mutter and she laughs throwing her head back and slapping you on the shoulder.

"Shut up."

A very drunk Jean Grey that you invited over for beers put a little reason in your head by saying that you couldn't screw things up with someone who was only concerned for your safety and whom you loved dearly, so you came home at three in the morning, determined to apologize and found the place empty.

"I left you?" Wanda asked in shock as she watched the memory of you sitting on the floor of the empty apartment, and you sighed softly.

"Yep, but I kind of deserved it." You retorted shrugging your shoulders. "Besides, you left a letter. You said that as long as I wasn't healthy, we couldn't happen. It wouldn't be fair to you, or her, to watch it. So I went back to the Kamar Taj."

With that, new flashes of memory began. Wanda was happy to watch your relationship come together as you got better and went back to training, even harder than before.

"Oww, you proposed to me at the place we first met." Wanda commented excitedly as she saw the memory, and you laughed awkwardly, looking away from the memory to the girl next to you.

"Yeah, it was nice, right?" You ask, looking away for the small picnic behind Kamar Taj.

"It was beautiful." She says.

But things went off the rails when Thanos came to earth. You, now a Knight of the Order, received the emergency call to the Kamar Taj, and memories of the day of the Temple invasion flew high around you two.

Wanda watched as some of the members of the Black Order went about taking down the Knights one by one, and you destroyed Cull Obsidian before he could kill Agamotto for the stone in his neck.

"Master, is everything all right?" You asked breathlessly, with several bruises on your face, but pure concern as you rushed to help the standing man. Despite his thanks, Agamotto offered you a sad smile.

"Child, it is today that I say goodbye to you."

"W-what? No, master, we can still win-"

"Some things have already been written, Y/N." He says, and you shake your head in denial.

"Enough of this talk, Master." You retort to him would be. "Come on, shields up."

But your determination didn't do much good when the enraged Proxima Midnight found her brother's body and chased you around the temple.

You fought very well, but all it took was the mention of the Black Order's intention to reach the Avengers, and you hesitated for the time she needed to dig the weapon into your belly.

Wanda - the older version - covered her mouth in shock as she watched the scene even though she knew you were safe next to her, but maybe it was because the shot was so familiar.

When you fell, Agamatto released the stone from the necklace around his neck, and shouted to the Sorcerers to retreat, all conjuring a shield around you both.

Mordo yelled as he saw the master begin to draw runes at high speed around you, and move to place the stone on the one he drew above your wound.

"Master, she is not worthy!" Tried the man but Agamotto let out an annoyed grunt.

"Silence Mordo!" You shouted back, and more softly and as he set the stone down on your stomach, he said, "Any knight who fights honorably is worthy."

You cried out in pain as the stone pierced your wound, but your whole body vibrated afterward, a strong golden light taking over all the runes and then your eyes.

Agamotto kissed your forehead, and stood up, taking front in the row of Wizards who were almost losing strength in their shield spells as Black Order attacked the barrier.

"No matter the cost, do not interrupt the forge." He warns and raises his hands to join the barrier.

Wanda doesn't have to watch to know that Agamatto died that day, and when the memory switches between flashes from your consciousness during the fight, to his fall the moment you awoke, and of how you destroyed half the temple in a fit of rage with your new powers, Wanda doesn't interrupt you.

The next memory you show Wanda is of Agamotto's memorial, and it always breaks her heart to see you dressed completely in black.

Mordo approaches you at the edge of a Kamar Taj that has been partially rebuilt.

"My condolences, Master L/N." He says with a small reverence, and as you swallow dryly with eyes full of tears that you don't take away from the landscape, you reply:

"My condolences, Master Mordo." You repeat and sigh softly before saying. "No need to reel me in, you can say what you want to ask."

Mordo lets out a weak laugh. "It's nothing that can't wait for your mourning period."

"Well, send a letter to the Avengers Tower then." You say, and he frowns in surprise.

"Forgive me, but do you intend to return to New York?

It is your turn to frown in confusion.

"I live in New York, Mordo. My wedding is still scheduled." You retort with a confused laugh. "The invasion has been contained, life goes on in the world."

Mordo shakes his head in disbelief. "You were forged as a Guardian of the Order, Y/N. You must take the ancient oaths! You can't just walk away from your responsibilities!"

You let out an incredulous laugh. "Guardian of what, Mordo? Because all the knights, my friends, are dead. Thre’s no Order of Knights anymore. My Master is dead. I am guardian of nothing." You retort with emotion in your voice, thick tears in your eyes. "My only priority is my bride, she is the one I must protect now."

You wipe your face quickly and sniffle before turning to leave. Mordo tries, "They'll be back, Y/N. And when that happens, you will wish you had Oshtur's protection at your side."

"How many more oaths will we have to take before we realize that the gods don't give a damn about us?" You retort without waiting for an answer.

The memory shivered, and Wanda saw your adult version embrace yourself, and already knew what was coming.

The wedding was beautiful, but the fight that came after, not at all.

"I was thinking of buying a red truck." Wanda whispered under the small forge of blankets you made in the almost completely empty apartment - the boxes being slowly made for the move to the new house - and you, who were staring at the blanket, raised your eyes to her.

"I'm sorry I smashed up your car." You muttered, and she gives a small giggle.

"That's okay sweetheart, it was a tough meeting."

"But throwing Iron Man against your car didn't help the situation." You retort, and Wanda laughs again more softly, raising one of her hands to draw lines on your face.

"It's okay, he shouldn't have said what he said."

You settle better on the pillow. "What if he is right?" Your question made Wanda hesitate, and look into your eyes with a frown. You swallowed dryly but did not look away. "I've lost a lot of people already, Wanda. And I don't want to get into another fight to lose more."

"Baby..."

"You'll say it's our job."

Wanda sighs, nodding. "We can't turn our backs on our friends."

You give her a sad smile, but nod in agreement. "Can we pretend we're not superheroes tonight?"

Wanda gives a surprised smile, but comes closer, and closes her eyes along with you. "Alright. If we weren't superheroes, what would we be doing?"

"Finishing packing up the move to our new house instead of sorting out weapons for a fight." You reply and she sighs softly but does not contradict.

"If I wasn't a superhero, I'd be thinking about having a family with you."

The sentence makes you open your eyes, your cheeks half pink. "Wait, really?"

Wanda laughs embarrassedly, looking at you as well. "Of course, idiot. It's your turn."

You laugh contentedly, your eyes sparkling. "If I wasn't a superhero, I'd be thinking about having a family with you too," You whisper. "Also, I would be calculating all the logical options to make that happen." You joke in a mechanical voice getting a loud laugh from Wanda.

"Okay, Mind Stone, and what conclusion did you come to?"

"Of all the possibilities from adoption to insemination, I think the most logical one is for us to make magical babies." You whisper in a tone of false seriousness that makes Wanda burst out laughing.

"Well, maybe we should start on that." She says suggestively, and you laugh softly before breaking the distance.

Thanos was infinitely worse in your universe. It made sense that there were so many more heroes because if not, everything would have turned to ash in the first second.

She watched the fights go by at high speed, and when she had to watch you in tears holding her body, she interrupted.

"You don't have to show me that one." She whispered, and you sniffled slightly, forcing a smile.

"It's okay, it's not like it gets much better after that." You try to joke, but Wanda hugs you sideways, and the memories come flooding back.

The memorials are so frequent over the next few weeks that you don't even get to not wear black. And even the time you're sitting on an empty lot - the property she saw you buy during your engagement, intending to have a bigger place in a quiet neighborhood where you could build a family, imagining that when your knighthood training is over and you get married, that would happen - Wanda was finding it hard to keep the tears in her eyes.

You had a half-empty bottle of whiskey in your hands and a half-crumpled certificate of ownership in your lap, the words 'to grow happy and old in' scribbled in blurred pen on the end.

Unlike her Hex's creation, there was no explosion. You continued drinking with tears in your eyes as the earth around you began to vibrate.

"You're not feeling it?" Wanda asked confused as she watched the memory, and your older version denied it with her head, nodding forward.

"Look closer." You said, and Wanda didn't understand at first, but once she concentrated, she could see the magic you were expelling from your heart.

Golden strands jumped at high speed, both towards the ground and the sky, and unraveled in thousands from various directions, until everything around you began to shudder, and yet, no one noticed. Slowly, your house formed around you, and you were no longer sitting on the floor, but on a couch, and the drink in your hand was a soda. You blinked confusedly as if waking up from a nap and stretched.

"Honey, lunch is ready!" A voice warned from the kitchen, and you let out a short laugh.

"Is that a threat?" You shouted back, receiving a short laugh in return.

Westview's creation was so familiar that Wanda only let the tears flow. You slipped an arm around her.

The memories of happy days floated at high speed in your eyes, many that made you let out affectionate smiles. Others that made you blush hard, like the one of Wanda’s variant riding your strap.

"Wow, that's an interesting one." Redheaded Wanda teased as soon as the memory focused in front of you two: the loud moans and the image of large breasts covered only by curly hair became clear.

You let out an embarrassed grunt, but when you tried to change the memory, it only ended with one of you on your knees to brunette Wanda in the kitchen.

The redhead next to you chuckled loudly at your clumsy, and you grumbled again, failing again to switch to a memory of you fucking your wife from behind.

"I suppose that's you trying to make a family." The witch teased, and you finally managed to focus on the memory of a pregnant Wanda on the couch.

“Very funny.” You mutter embarrassed.

The playful mood from before completely faded as soon as the little twins were home, a sigh escaping your lips at the image of the babies again.

"What if I forget who's who?" you ask Wanda sitting next to you, and despite pinching you in the ribs, she laughs softly.

"You just need to remember that Annie doesn't have her ears pierced, darling." Wanda comments, settling the baby she is holding for you to look at. You let out a short laugh.

"Oh, yes, I forgot that she turned yellow. Only little Hallie behaved herself at the ear-piercing time, didn't she, my little love?" You say in a childish voice, making the baby on your lap giggle, and your wife smiles affectionately at you.

"You are such a dork"

"Yes, but I am your dork."

"Yeah, you are."

The memory shuddered because you interrupted it. Wanda looked at you curiously, but seeing your serious face, she didn't question.

You no longer focused on your life in Westview - Wanda only saw in high speed the girls growing up, you and her variant in normal jobs, and a quiet suburban life for long minutes as the years passed - until you focused on a memory in your backyard.

You were fixing a colorful bicycle, and you raised your eyes from the task, assuming a confused expression upon seeing the sorcerer there.

"Greetings, Y/N." He greeted politely, and you wiped some of the gravel on your clothes before greeting him.

"Mordo, good to see." You said gently. "To what do I owe the visit?"

He gave a short laugh, half surprised. "Well, I suppose you don't have a television." He joked but you only offered him a confused expression. "Y/N, the world is kind of chaotic. I've come to extend a work invitation."

You give a humorless laugh, crossing your arms. "Look, Mordo, I appreciate the visit, but if you came just for that, I must say you've wasted your time. Wanda and I are retired."

He blinked in confusion. "Wanda?"

"Yeah, she went to take the girls to school, actually. Like I said if there's anything else..."

"No, don't worry." He cuts off half hesitantly but forces a smile. "I already know what I needed to know. It was good to see you again, Y/N. Sorry for wasting your time."

Memories become more unstable after that, shattered.

"What's going on?" Wanda asks worriedly, and you swallow dryly before answering:

"When Charles Xavier, a telepath from my universe, intervened to try to get me out of the fantasy, my magic fought back. My memories began to fragment as the fantasy broke down, and it wasn't until he involved my Wanda that I finally accepted what had happened."

The surroundings became your home again, an image of you coming home from work to a flooded floor made you frown in concern.

"Darling?" You called out, leaving your briefcase on the desk and running upstairs. "Girls?"

But the house was empty, and you couldn't find the source of the water upstairs, so you run downstairs after searching through everything.

And when you stepped downstairs, the day had changed. Your daughters were on the couch watching television, and the floor was dry. You gulped immediately, but when your wife called you from the kitchen, you went over in hesitant steps.

"Wanda, a strange thing has just happened..." You started but fell silent when you found Wanda staring at the faucet leaking water on the floor, and beginning to wet the kitchen. "Wanda?" You called out worriedly, moving one hand to turn off the faucet, and using the other to turn it towards you. You let out an exclamation as you felt the temperature of her skin. "Wanda, you're freezing. Why are you barefoot? Hell, come on you need to warm up."

You grew more nervous when the day changed again, an expression of confusion and fear taking over your face, which only got more agonizing when you couldn't find your daughters on the couch, and the decorations in the house had changed again.

Still, you moved Wanda in front of the fireplace, kneeling beside her and pulling a blanket from the couch to place on her shoulders.

"Here darling, it will get better." You murmured hurriedly, moving your arms down and up against hers to try to warm her. "Wanda, what's going on, where are the girls?"

Wanda blinked confusedly at you. "What girls?"

"Our daughters, Wanda." You told her with concern in your voice, caressing her cheek. "Annie and Hallie, darling. They were in the living room and-"

"We don't have daughters, Y/N." Wanda interrupted with a mixed expression of confusion and disbelief, pulling away from your touch a little to look around. "Where am I?"

"Our home, Wanda. What...what's wrong? Did you hit your head or something?"

Wanda shook her head in denial, pushing your hand away.

"No, that doesn't make sense." She said with emotion in her voice, beginning to despair. "We were fighting, Thanos tried to steal your stone and-"

"Honey, that was five years ago. We won! We won and I was able to save you and-"

"No, Y/N." Wanda cuts in standing up, her voice loud and frightened, and you do the same, looking at her with hesitation. "I saved you. Y/N can't you remember?"

"Wanda, what..." She began to cry, hugging her own body, and you shushed to hug her on instinct, but Wanda pushed you hard. "Honey, please, you're scaring me."

"I'm dead, Y/N!" She shouted and you took a step back in shock and confusion, thick tears in your eyes as you shook your head. "Can't you see it? Can't you feel it? I'm dead!"

"No, no, stop saying that..."

The house began to shake, and Wanda stopped crying as she buried her hands in her face for a moment. You would have raised your hand to reach her if two children hadn't run from the kitchen to your legs.

"Hey, darlings, I'm talking to Mama now, go to your room, okay?" You try, but the little girls only squeeze harder. Wanda looks at you with puffy eyes.

"What is this, Y/N?"

"Honey, don't scare the girls." You ask in a shaky voice, but Wanda gives a tearful laugh, shaking her head in disbelief.

"Don't you realize that you can't even feel them?"

You frown in confusion but look down. And you choke as you realize that although greenish eyes look at you fondly, and two pairs of arms are clasped around your legs, there is no touch. You stumble away, and your daughters disappear.

"W-what..."

Wanda ignores your shock to look around, her eyes and hands turning scarlet.

"What's all this, Y/N?" She asks with a bitterness in her voice that makes you shudder. "These pictures on the wall, these fake memories-"

"Don't say that."

The house begins to crumble as Wanda uses her magic and you raise your hand in the air, asking her to stop, but you don't fight the destruction.

When only an empty lot can be seen, Wanda stops and gestures in the air for you to see the number of golden threads coming out of that lot and from you in all directions.

You let out an exclamation, touching your own chest, but it continues to expel.

"What the hell?" You gasp and shudder as you find your red irises filled with tears.

"You need to let me go, honey." Wanda says much more gently now, raising a hand to your face. "It's painful to be here."

"I don't.... what..."

"It's time, Y/N." She whispers. "This life is not real, my love. You can't destroy this world for a corpse."

You grabbed her arms, and though you shuddered at the temperature, your expression was hard. "Don't say that! Y-you're not dead!"

Wanda offers you a tearful smile, tracing lines on your face as she used to do. "I will love you in all my lives, but this one is over. You deserve more than a dream."

You sobbed, shaking your head. "No, Wanda, please, I just want to be with you."

She gasps softly, thick tears that match your own slipping down her face. "Darling, feel what you are doing to this world by keeping me here. You need to let me go."

It took a moment, but you did as she asked. Your eyes turned golden, and you took your eyes from her to your surroundings, being able to observe the cracks of instability the magic was causing in your reality, and being able to feel the agony of those you subjugated. You let go of Wanda, falling to your knees in a sob. She sighs deeply, and lowers herself to the same height, her hands going to your face.

"You need to do just one last thing, my dear." She whispers caressing your cheek. "You need to guide my forge."

You blink in confusion. "W-what?"

"Y/N, I don't have the power to tidy up your mess." She says as gently as she can. "And you can't fix order with more order. Only I can set them free."

You swallow dryly, blinking in confusion, "B-but I don't know how to do that."

"Don't worry, my dear, I will guide you."

Wanda helps you to stand, and when you do, passes your arms around her. "It will be like our wedding dance. Close your eyes."

But you only took a little more than two steps to the side, before Wanda - who was humming a song in Romani that you didn't know and had a hand on your back - opened her eyes glowing in scarlet. You let out a gasping sigh as you felt a strong burning in your back, and shuddered against her.

"It hurts Wanda." You whispered, but she didn't loosen her grip, and you could feel your shirt getting wet.

"I know, baby, I can feel it." She says back. "I'm so sorry."

She mutters words in a language you don't know, and the next moment, you grunt in pain and lose the strength in your body, falling to your knees in the grass.

"It's done." Wanda spoke, but it was not to you, but rather to someone else coming at the entrance of the house.

You, half out of breath, look at Professor Xavier approaching with Mordo and immediately go on the defensive.

You attack the Sorcerer first, throwing him meters away without difficulty, but Wanda forces your face back into hers as you go to attack Charles.

"Enough, Y/N, no more fighting. No more lies." She says, and you sob softly. "They are here to help us."

"They took you from me."

"No, Y/N, I died a long time ago, you know that." Wanda says low and touches your face. "It's time to kill this fantasy too."

But you only sob, and even as Wanda begins to use chaos magic to balance your universe again, you only hug your knees.

She comes back to you at what seems like an eternity later and touches your hands until you look at her again.

"Just one more piece." She says softly, bringing her hand to the height of your chest. The other goes to your cheek, and she offers you a sweet smile. "I love you so much, my dear. I would have loved this life."

You sniffle, and when you speak, it comes out breathless both from crying and from Wanda's magic neutralizing the order in your chest. "You would never have let me pierce a baby's ear."

Wanda giggles, her eyes filled with tears. "Nor would I have let you buy a guitar to let it grow old in the basement." She retorts making you laugh weakly as well. After a moment, her expression turns more serious. "Do you see now, my love? The flaws in this false life?"

You want to cry again, but you nod. "Forgive me, Wanda."

"I would have done the same thing if I had lost you."

There is no way of knowing, so all you do to offer her is a small smile. She lets out a tired sigh, getting up, and you take your cue to do the same.

"You're the one who has to let me go, Y/N." Wanda says, and only after a moment does you understand, and you sob, denying it with your head.

"N-no, not that. I won't-"

Wanda puts her hands on your face, trying to calm you down. "My love, I'm so, so sorry." She says caressing your cheeks. "I am a Scarlet Witch forged by a Guardian of the Order. Only you can do this. It can't be anyone else."

"Wanda, I can't, please-"

"I'm already dead, Y/N. It will be like putting me to sleep." She tries and you only sob harder, hugging her. "Honey, say goodbye. Things will only balance when I'm gone."

"I will give my power to anyone, please don't make me..."

"Y/N, it has to be you." It is Charles' voice that finally intervenes sounding as crestfallen as you are. Wanda releases you so you look at him. "Wanda doesn't exist anymore. I can only see her because I am in your mind. No one else is capable of fighting her."

You look at Wanda in horror, but she only caresses your cheek.

"Say goodbye to us, Y/N. For good this time." Wanda asks, and you realize that your daughters are standing beside each of her legs, and a sob breaks in your throat.

You lower yourself to their height, and even though you can't feel them, you hug them tight.

"Mommy, why are you crying?" Annie asks confused, and you sniffle as you shake your head.

"It's nothing, honey." You say. "Mommy will just miss you."

"Where are we going?" Hallie asks suspiciously, and even though your heart breaks, you force a smile at her.

"You guys are going for a walk with Mama, okay? You're going to behave, right?"

Annie and Hallie exchange mischievous glances, but they nod, and you hug them one last time before rising to Wanda.

"I don't know how to..."

"Just hold me. Don't think too much, and just do it. Remove the forge, and I will go." Wanda interrupts as you explain, and you swallow dryly before nodding. She offers you a tearful smile before you hug her.

The next time you let go, there is no one in your arms.

The memory ends, and Wanda slips her arms around you, making you sigh softly before hugging her back.

"I'm sorry."

"I get the impression that when I killed her, your Westview happened." You mutter and Wanda frowns in confusion, loosening her grip to look at you.

"What are you talking about?"

"Let's look at one last memory. Before we check out America."

Wanda was going to say she's seen enough for today, not wanting to prolong your suffering at reviewing so many tragedies, but her curiosity and your assured look make her agree.

The last memory begins in a dark cell. You are wearing magic chains on your arms and ankles, and hugging your knees. A pile of trays of rotten, untouched food grows next to the wall.

The door opens, and a sorcerer in a black robe enters.

"I have been waiting to see you in one of these since the day I saw you murder your brother." Kaecillius says but you don't react to his teasing, though he knows you're not asleep by the way you shrink a little more. "What, no comeback?"

"What do you want, master?" You grumble between teeth, and he gives a weak laugh as he takes the free seat at the other end of the room.

"Master? Wow, did they put you under some kind of manners spell?" He mocks laughing at his own joke. "Or, let me guess, guilt is corroding you into submission."

An irritated grunt escapes, and the chains in your hand vibrate. Kaecillius lets out another laugh.

"There she is." He sneers, and you sigh wearily before raising your eyes to him.

"Just tell me what you want."

"I, Miss L/N, wanted to be enjoying my retirement on the Barramas." He says adjusting his cape. "But you see, your little dollhouse spell has ruined this universe to the point where even the most obnoxious Sorcerers are needed to straighten the balance."

"I've already made things right." You retort angrily, receiving an argued grimace in return. "Charles and Mordo guided my arrest, they have already testified about Westview and my sacrifice and-"

"My this and my that, you always were so selfish, weren't you, Y/N?" Kaecillus interrupts with a wicked grin. " For your information, sacrificing your fake family was the least you could have done after what it caused around here!"

You grunt angrily, but Kaecillius doesn't flinch. "What, you want me to lie? For me to tell you nice stories, or pat you on the back and say, congratulations on letting your dead wife rest in the afterlife. No, child! Every second of your fantasy has opened a crack in space-time. At first, Kamar Taj thought they were dark sorcerers like me, do you realize the treatment we received? Covens all over the world were dismantled, witches marginalized, no one could find a guilty party. Then came the beasts! And the natural disasters. Did you know that Miami is underwater? Or Panama and half of Chile? And while these people were losing their lives, you are playing house with a corpse!"

You shuddered at the screams, hiding your face between your legs again. Kaecillius took a deep breath to calm himself.

"I came here to offer you the chance to right your wrongs." He declares after a moment, and it takes another for you to raise your face, thick tears in your eyes, to him.

"How?"

He clears his throat. "You are still the most powerful Sorceress in this universe, Y/N. And you still have the Mind Stone to help you form the solutions." He says. "I'll put you in charge of fixing everything."

You swallow dryly, frowning softly. "I thought... I thought sacrificing Wanda would fix everything."

"This is exactly why Mordo didn't want you as Guardian, you understand nothing of your own nature." Complains the other. "A Guardian to a Scarlet Witch, one shouldn't exist without the other! How many classes have you been missing?"

"Wanda told me that I needed to let her go-"

"Yes, because she was dead!" Kaecillus interrupted in frustration. "And Mordo still told us that you, a guardian, forged her as the Scarlet Witch, didn't you? I can hardly imagine the wrath of the gods over that. But that's for another day because we have bigger problems here. Get this clear once and for all, Y/N, a guardian exists to destroy the Scarlet Witch, as it is written. But Wanda was already dead. You didn't fulfill the prophecy, but you don't even need to, because you never completed your forging and swore Oshtur your loyalty."

You frown, absorbing his words. "B-but what am I supposed to do now?"

"After all you've done? The only thing, come on. Go clean up your mess." Kaecillius says. "Your magic must be monitored, but don't worry, we'll make good use of your powers."

Kaecillius stands up, wiping the dust from his robes. "And so, do we have an agreement, or can I tell everyone that you would rather your wife's second death meant nothing?"

"Fuck you Kaecillius."

He laughs with gusto. "I knew you still had it in you, Y/N. Deal?"

You roll your eyes, but raise your hand to him. "Deal."

The memories start to flow between the long days of working to tidy up your universe, but Wanda stumbles back and in the blink of an eye, you are back in your bodies on the terrace of the train station.

You blink a little trying to get used to your surroundings again, and Wanda gets up first, looking very upset. You hurry to get up and approach her.

"Hey, Wands, I know it's a lot but-"

"When she died, I became the Scarlet Witch, didn't I?" Wanda asks with an indecipherable expression, following your same line of thought as before. You sigh.

"I don't know." You say sincerely. "It may have happened when I received Oshtur's blessing as a Knight, or it may have happened when I let her go. I wish I had all the answers, Wanda, but I really don't."

Wanda shook her head, her eyes filled with tears.

"What you know is enough, Y/N." She says in an accusatory tone. "A Guardian is destined to destroy the Scarlet Witch. There is no future for us."

You swallow dryly, shaking your head. "Wanda, I would never do that, I would never-"

"But you already have." She retorts, tears streaming down her face. "And you did it with your wife. I'm just a replacement for her, so it's going to be even easier."

"Wanda, don't say that!"

But she turns her back on you, and though you try to go after her, and even get in her way, she can't hear you anymore, Chthon's ironic laughter is the only sound in her ears.

Wanda rips the Cube door off without difficulty with her magic, and you let out an exclamation, trying to grab her by the shoulders. She grunts in annoyance and enchants a bicycle stand to pin you to the wall.

America wakes up with the commotion and only has time to scream in surprise before Wanda pulls her by the arm outside, where she has enough room to conjure a portal into an open place.

You let out an exclamation, but witness Wanda enchanting the girl's mind - a portal breaking in front of them - until she finds the world she wants to go to.

This is the right one.

With Chthon's whisper of approval, Wanda steps forward, only to see the world change again.

She blinks in confusion, but as she looks at America, she notices the scarlet magic fused with golden threads. She looks at you with indignation, raising her free hand so that one of the irons forces its way around your neck, and though the gold wavers in your eyes, you don't stop altering the worlds.

"Y/N, don't make me hurt you." Wanda asks between teeth, increasing the pressure.

You give her a short, tired laugh, and Wanda can see the blood beginning to trickle down your nose, hesitating a little.

"I am just keeping our deal." You tell her, and with a pained grunt, you free yourself from the irons with a short golden blast, not giving Wanda much time to react as you run towards her and push her and America into the portal.

--//--

#wanda maximoff x reader #wanda x reader #wanda x you #wanda maximoff x you #wanda maximoff #marvel imagines #elizabeth olsen x reader #wanda maximoff imagines #Rulers of The Multiverse #the scarlet witch x reader

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zmediaoutlet · 2 days

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okay first of all. Lovee the takes on each character/ship dynamic. second this one is kind of a given so I completely get it if you don't really have any opinions at all about them but I was wondering what your thoughts are on Sam/Jess. Obviously most people just think about them in the existing dynamic of the show but idk! Personally I find their dynamic to be really interesting in the context of what Jess is representative of to Sam. Especially in that time of his life. So I guess it's more of a question of if Sam/Jess is interesting to you, what makes it so and your thoughts on that.

As a backup question to that, thoughts on Dean/Jess? Dean/Jess/Sam?

eyyyy continuing the wine party into post-workout saturday morning tea party --

sam/jess:

to be honest friend, I'm falling into the "most people" category here because my real opinion about Jess is that she... basically isn't a person. And I love that for her, sincerely. Some characters really are tools in a story to spin in forward, and I am soooooo tired to death of all the carrying on about "fridging" and whatnot. Some characters are characters and some characters are narrative tools and, yes, bad luck to the angry ladies out there, spn is a show built on super classic-traditional bones about men who are getting revenge for the dead wife and what they learn along the way. That's good and fine. I'm into it.

with that aside, and given that she is a tool, I just -- don't... care about her. Like I thought about writing a fic one time as a demonstrative exercise called "Five Personalities Jessica Moore Could Have Had," because she's such a blank-slate (again, correctly!) in her like five minutes of screen time. We can't even count the djinn dream of Jess, because that was a pretty vision dreamed up by Dean to hurt himself worse, lol.

but as you say, her being representative of something to Sam is legit interesting -- he didn't fully engage in the relationship, he was gonna marry her without telling her the truth -- like a gay man desperately hitching himself to a nice wife in some misguided attempt to "fix" it. Like if he just tried hard enough he would be someone other than who he is. Which is the whole Sam-at-Stanford story, really. And it's an important part of his story -- the hero has to go away from home and return to it with a better sense of who he is -- but it makes Jessica entirely figural and metaphorical instead of being, again, a person. Like when Sam says in whatever late season ep that he "still thinks about Jess," I'm left going... really? Because even by late in the first season he's reoriented into the family revenge story, not specifically the for her revenge story. But if we reorient that to "I still think about the life I could have had" -- that, I believe. And she'd be part of that. Whatever her actual personality was. Apparently she made cookies. How... fridged wife of her.

WITH all that said, what I'm most interested in with stories that circle around Jess are stories that completely ruin that relationship, haha, because the whole point of it in the larger frame-story of Supernatural is that it has to end so Sam can get back to his real life. So -- if it's an AU where Sam for some reason stays at Stanford and they do get married, I'm only interested if their marriage kinda sucks and they get divorced by year five. (e.g. maybe, like his mother, he pretended he could be 'normal' but he keeps sneaking out on hunts after all, and Jessica thinks he's cheating, and they end up dead bedroomed, etc etc.) Or, if it's set during Stanford, I'd go for an almost horror-story dramatic irony fic where she's introduced to this tall hot guy by her smiling blond classmate Brady and we can see fate rearing up to grab her by the neck, and she feels almost compelled to stay, and she doesn't know why when Sam keeps obviously not telling her things but she forcibly dismisses it from her mind and goes he'll tell me someday. And then it's November 2nd. :)

Dean/Jess similarly I guess I'd only be interested in from a symbolic sense -- Dean attempting to get closer to Sam any way he can in the period of not-talking. I have no interest in Jess living -- her job is to die -- so it'd have to be still at Stanford, and it'd be a really tight window to make it work in a way that wouldn't screw up everyone because Dean isn't a piece of shit and Jess (being a figural Nice Girl who Dies) can't be a cheater. Maybe in the very early Sam and her have only gone on like one date but they're not an 'item' yet, Dean sees her at the bar after Sam leaves and decides he'll take her for a spin...? Eh, that's too mean. So, I guess not for me. And I never like ot3s so the other one is not for me either. But if you can make it terrible and Jess dies at the end anyway, maybe!

#answers #friday night wine party #saturday morning tea party #i'm just sitting here steaming in my workout clothes waiting to move laundry into the dryer #but i can talk about how much i want jess to be dead anytime #mary should've stayed dead too #keep symbols in the symbol drawer where they belong!#thank GOD jdm's career was too successful to drag him back #lebanon was bad enough lol

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ackermental · 2 years

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Listen, I have no idea how that’s even possible, but the second episode is just as good as the first one, if not better.

I’m actually struggling to think of anything that was not to my taste, so again, I’ll begin with cons, since I have a feeling those will be much shorter:

1. Alicent harming herself 🙄🤨😒

Not so long ago I’ve made a post about different show where I’ve pointed out this newest trope writers use. They make the most unlikable character in the story either a victim of rape, self harm, or a minority in order to make them look more sympathetic. More often than not, they do that to female characters. It’s disgusting, it’s on the nose, it has no place in this story. I hate it. Let women be bad characters, we are only people, we can be terrible bitches just like any other random dude.

2. The Wigs™. Nothing new here, still bad though. The one for Laena is sending me 🤣🤣, they did my girl dirty.

3. Rhaenys’ talk about men not choosing her, when she was supported by two Great Houses and the House with the largest fleet in the Kingdom 🙄. This woman should know better than anyone that the Great Council was a suss and the voting was cheated. I have to say, though, that there is a big chance she was simply manipulating Rhaenyra, just like Corlys was manipulating Viserys. I’m putting this in cons just in case for now.

4. I hoped that they would change Dragonstone’s design, at least the interior. That’s an ancestral seat of the Royal family at the time of their peak. It kinda made sense for it to look dreadful in GOT, but not in HOTD.

5. The little figures shown during the choosing of the next Kingsguard were pretty and all that, but what was the point of them? I have no idea.

6. It seems they’re not going to make Strongs members of the Oldtown Triad conspiracy, and that’s a shame. It takes away a lot of depth from Harwin’s character, if not all of it. It also simplifies the coup for ‘common viewer’. As if we were not capable of understanding it. Not to mention we’ll no longer have the tragic irony of Viserys replacing Otto with Lyonel thinking he made a difference, when in fact this changed nothing 😞.

And that’s it. The rest was wonderful.

1. I simply adore Corlys being a manipulative asshole, playing for himself and his family and for no one else. I was so worried that the writers would go for Velaryons being Targaryen’s bitches and besties and *Yay! We are so proud to be light!Targs* thing. It sure is what most of this fandom has thought about them for years. Corlys twisting the situation on the Stepstones into an excuse to wed his daughter to the King and going after Daemon as soon as Viserys puts him aside was brilliant. The fact that he straight out admits by the end of the episode, that the situation on the Stepstones puts HIS House in danger 🥳😍. Love to see it.

2. We can witness Rhaenyra slowly trying to gain her voice during political meetings and how quickly the entire Oldtown Team shuts her up. It shows us so clearly, that they’ve used her for their own agenda and that with Daemon gone, nobody, even her own father, gives a single fuck about what she wants to say. It’s so heartbreaking, seeing just how strong Otto’s grasp on Viserys is.

3. Rhaenyra choosing Criston was such a great scene covering multiple pieces of storytelling. The way she has to stand on an increase, to make us understand how ‘small’ she still is. Rhaenyra smiling, truly smiling for the first time in the entire episode before she sees Daemon again, while she chooses a man who will later bring death to her and her children, almost brought tears to my eyes. Also, her already having stronger backbone and doing something Viserys couldn’t do for years – standing up to Otto. The fact that she picks Cole not because she’s smitten, but because Criston is a great fighter.🤌🤌

4. Love the little detail of Otto trying to put someone from House Crakehall or Mallister on the Kingsguard. Crakehalls will later fight for the Greens, while Mallisters wanted to fight for the Greens and changed their minds only after Velaryons’ threatened them intervention.

5. I still hate Alicent being Rhaenyra’s friend, but their scene was full of brilliant characterization. They used it perfectly to show the contrast between the two. Alicent being this pious, well-bred Lady, who knows her place, does her fathers' bidding, goes to Sept, prays for her mother and tells Rhaenyra that she should not get involved with politics. And Rhaenyra, talking about men plotting behind her back to a person who is actually plotting behind her back (and good lord, I love this scene!) and trying to act for herself. It’s a beautiful build up from the last episode, with Alicent being terrified of the septa and feeling this pressure to learn, because that’s what is expected of a Lady vs Rhaenyra already having the knowledge, because it’s an interesting story worth knowing and remembering, as well as the iconic „fuck the septa”.

6. I love how the show emphasizes the difference between Valyrians and the Andals and how Rhaenyra and Daemon are the main representatives of their culture. They refuse to abandon their traditions, to forget their language and faith. I love how it shows them not really belonging in this country, in their own court. Love how it explains Oldtown preferring Viserys who managed to acclimatize better. Rhaenyra doesn’t even know what to do in the Sept, because those are not her gods, yet she’s still being respectful. But that was never enough for the Andals, was it?

7. I’ve changed my mind. Velaryons being at King’s Landing actually explains the large plot hole of just how Laena managed to bind Vhagar to her, when Velaryons haven’t been around any dragnos (except for Meleys ofc) for years in the books.

8. I like how smooth the exposition for Rhaenyra’s age was. Viserys talking about her being fifteen makes perfect sense, because what father doesn't find the adolescence of his little girl to be terrifying? I salute all the idiots screaming about her being eleven.

9. The microexpressions Emily gives are just cheff's kisses👌. Alicent knows very well what she’s doing.

10. Rhaenyra wearing Daemon’s necklace even after all this time and ‘the heir for a day’ rumor 😭. She doesn’t believe it for a second, and I love it!

11. Viserys straight out admitting that he thinks of Otto and Grand Maester as the Small Council. Not that he’s wrong, but the fact that those cunts don’t even have to pretend, yet still do, shows you just how calculating they are. The little comedy Otto does with Mellos, trying to make it look like one is for Laena and the other is not, yet we still got treated to the little look maester gives Otto, like „c’mon man, this is your line now”. I want to kiss the showrunners.

12. Laena asking after Vhagar. Yes girl, you have your priorities in the right order!

13. The fact that they point out Lords making vows to Rhaenyra and how it does change everything. Finally somebody understands how feudalism works. Rhaenys storming off with a huff, because she knows she’s been talking nonsense and trying to twist the facts, yet it’s still not working on Rhaenyra. „Your father is not a fool”, please Rhaenys, you can do better than that.

14. Otto jumping out of his chair to stop Viserys, because he knows that if he allows the two brothers to meet, they will make up and all of his hard work will be for nothing. The audacity this man has, to say that Daemon would harm his brother, when he’s the one plotting House Targaryen demise!

15. I know I’ve made many jokes about it as soon as I saw it, but the scene on Dragonstone is actually brilliant. Daemon increasing his provocations to the point where he can no longer be ignored was a smart idea to make his brother meet up with him. If not for Otto, it would have worked. The fact that he takes the specific egg, hoping that if he doesn't get to see his brother, he at least gets to see Rhaenyra, again shows you that this man just wants to be with his family. And when it doesn’t go as he’s planned, he at least makes an attempt to rouse Otto, counting on him to take the bait and give Daemon an excuse to finally kill the cunt where he stands.

16. The dismissing way in which Daemon addresses Ser Cunt, the “very good” line. Oh, how well we were served this week 🤭🥰.

17. The way this episode makes it explicably clear that dragons are the most deadly weapons in the world and that dragonriders are a tremendous power the King wields. And show writers are hammering it down hard. First when Rhaenyra points it out to her father, who’s constantly being manipulated into forgetting just how large of a force he has at his disposal. Then again when Otto calls the egg weapon. And then again when we see Ser Cunt, the rest of the Kingsguard, and Otto cower before Caraxes. Yes, Cole might be a better knight, yes, Kingsguard might be better trained than City Watch, but it still makes no difference because Targaryens have dragons. It was a great scene to make viewers understand, that if you wish to get rid of Targaryens, you have to do it without openly challenging them. Because if you do, you’ll lose every time.

18. The face Otto makes when he sees Caraxes 🙌👏. The fact that book readers can see the moment he remembers Hightowers' own prophecy. That if they ever dare to fight dragons, the Oldtown will burn. The fact that he almost believed the lies he’s been feeding Viserys and forgot for a second why Targaryens are the Royal family in the first place. His forced calmness, the way he straightens his back and gives his men the command to stand down. That was some wonderful characterization done with only one line of dialog. And it makes him look like a badass even though he’s retreating.

19. Daemon standing down as soon as he sees Rhaenyra, his little smile when she lands, him throwing her an egg. She’s been so alone this whole time, with both Rhaenys and Alicent dismissing her new role, her father ignoring her, the Small Council basically treating her like a joke. And here Daemon is, giving her what she wants without any fight. It’s also such an important little detail for how this story will unfold. This man hates the mere idea of Rhaenyra being angry at him, she’s the only family member who still loves him implicitly and for a man who craves love as much as he does, it makes perfect sense that he’s ready to do anything to prove himself to her. The fact that Otto is right there to see it, explains even more the Oldtown Triad using this affection against them later on.

20. By the way, I love how Otto begins this episode with absolutely ignoring Rhaenyra as an opponent and only seeing her as a naive girl, who's there just to serve his purpose (the same way he uses his own daughter), only to realize by the end how much of a real threat she is. He’s just caught up to the fact that he made Lords of Westeros swear fealty to a woman who’s a dragonrider, a dragon hatcher, is actually very comfortable with her valyrian roots, has a very good relationship with another dragonrider, and who at the age of fifteen dares to challenge him and straight out ignores his council. The irony of replacing Daemon with someone much, much worse is slowly starting to bite him in the ass.

21. The writers really be out there, pissing on all those morons claiming that Daemon is a power-hungry madman, who wishes to take his brother’s crown. „I’ll speak of my brother as I wish. You will not.”

22. I loved watching Corlys exploiting Daemon’s position in order to get Caraxes to deal with his war. It’s a really well-played move.

23. And here we have it, Rhaenyra’s final realization that she’s truly alone, that she can’t trust anyone, that nobody at court stands in her corner. Which will later explain her need to find someone just for herself, and the way she’ll see and use Criston, and her happiness at having Daemon back again, and jeez, it’s such a well-writen story!

So yeah, another episode that turned out to be great. I was still not over my shock from last week and they did it again, they gave us good ASOIAF content. Can’t wait for more.

#hotd #house of the dragon #daemon x rhaenyra #daemon targaryen #rhaenyra targaryen

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funhouse-mirror-barbie · 1 month

Text

The Decay of Complex Characters and Character Development in Helluva Boss (Stolas and Octavia’s Relationship: Part 1 of 2)

Part 2 here

I’ve seen this in a few different places, but it’s been on my mind in particular since the animated “Look My Way” music video that dropped a while back.

The way the song was updated for the animated music video made the changes to Stolas’ character stick out even more to me, and I really want to talk about what I perceive as some really flawed writing decisions around Stolas’ character.

If you’re a fan of HB please know that I’m not trying to attack the creators or change whatever opinions or feelings you have about the story. If you love this show and this character and they mean a lot to you that’s great! My goal is never to spread negativity or toxicity—it’s always to talk openly about media and how we interact with it. ☺️

I want to start by saying I was a big fan of Helluva Boss, and of Stolas, up until the second season started. And before the second season, my favorite episode by far was “Loo-loo Land”.

(TLDR at the end of the post if you don’t have time to read thru!)

I still really like the episode now, and I especially love the opening scene and song. It’s beautiful, and the song “You Will be Okay” has brought me to tears more than once. It’s one of the best songs in the entire series, and I think the only one that tops it for me is probably “The House of Asmodeus”.

The whole sequence of “You Will be Okay” is both heartening and heartbreaking—it captures the unconditional love and protection a parent promises to give their child, while also expressing the sad truth about that promise that only a parent can know—that you can’t and won’t always be around for your child.

No matter how much you want to protect them from the dangers of the world, you can’t—parents have to let their kids go out into the world and become their own person—the most a parent can do is try to always be there in any way they can for their kids, even if they can’t be there physically.

The lyrics and tone of the song tell us as much. It’s very clear that Stolas is acutely aware that something may happen to him and that he needs to let Octavia know that while he may not be there with her physically, his love for her will always be with her, protecting her.

The build up to the song’s crescendo matching the visuals around Stolas and Octavia bring everything in the scene together really well, and Bryce’s performance is so good that it made me believe for a second that he would keep his promise to Octavia. That he would never abandon her, and would always put her needs as his child first.

That, somehow, he will truly be with her always protecting her, and that she really will be okay.

For a moment it was possible for me to forget the dramatic irony of the situation. That this was the past, that I already knew for a fact that Stolas would cheat on Stella and jeopardize his family life.

The song comes to a close, and through all the seemingly random chaos happening in space around them, Stolas keeps Octavia safe, and lulls her back to sleep. They return to her room, and the scene ends on Via in bed sleeping peacefully.

The whole sequence does such a fantastic job of showing you what Stolas’ and Octavia’s relationship was like when she was a child. She trusts him implicitly, and, at least at this time in her life, he seems to have been a present and loving father.

What makes this scene work even better though, is the transition to the present that follows RIGHT after it.

At the end of the song we get this jarring and sharp match-cut of a teenage Octavia being jolted awake by the shrill screaming and fighting of her parents in the background. In that instant, we as the audience see her going from feeling safe and having a seemingly idyllic childhood, to being a moody and neglected teen with a turbulent and unstable family life.

The music change that accompanies this not only fits the change in mood perfectly, but it quite literally tells us what she is feeling—her whole world is crashing down around her.

To this day, I think this transition is wonderful.

The visuals do such an amazing job conveying the changes that have happened in the Goetia family through Octavia’s perspective. And it’s extremely important because it immediately shows the audience that Stolas broke his promise.

I watched this episode when it came out, and when the only other Helluva Boss story and world-building we had was the Pilot and S1E1-“Murder Family”. While it could be assumed that Stella would not be happy about her husband’s cheating, we didn’t know anything about her personality and how she would react.

So. while it was clear that Stella wasn’t acting appropriately or maturely in the next scene, it was also VERY clear that Stolas was at fault for breaking up their relationship by cheating.

I will be talking about Stella’s character in “The Circus”, and how she is used as tool to absolve Stolas of any wrongdoing in season 2 later. For now, I want to stress that I will NOT be talking about future development of her character here.

After Stella leaves Stolas tries to connect with Octavia like they used to and just continuously fails. It’s clear that she’s still very angry with him for cheating on her Mom, and that his trying to carry on like nothing is wrong is irritating her.

Stolas asks her if she slept well and all she can sarcastically say is “Is that a serious question?”

What Stolas does next to try and reconnect with Octavia is very very important because it shows that he’s still being extremely selfish.

He decides they’re going to LooLoo Land, in a poor attempt to recapture some of their old good memories together and does not once LISTEN to Octavia and what she actually wants to do.

They go, but he uses the trip as an excuse to meet up with Blitzø, and behaves inappropriately and flirts with him the whole time, right in front of Octavia.

This, rightly, is extremely upsetting to her, and she runs away. Stolas follows after her and they have a heart to heart where he FINALLY FINALLY takes the time to listen to some of her concerns and why she is upset.

The episode ends on a happy note-with Stolas asking Octavia what SHE wants to do and what her interests are, and Octavia admitting to Stolas that, “You’re okay sometimes”.

This episode is extremely important to Stolas’ character because it does such a good job of getting across to the audience that Stolas is not a perfect person. That he’s someone who has people he genuinely cares about and loves, but that he can still royally fuck up. He’s sleazy, he doesn’t respect Blitzø’s boundaries, he neglects his daughter, and he doesn’t listen to her, putting his own desires and needs ahead of hers.

And the resolution to this episode is important, not because it fixes everything, but because it is the first STEP in the right direction for Stolas becoming better and becoming the father his daughter needs him to be again.

This episode ends with Stolas meeting the BARE MINIMUM to START making amends with Octavia. He doesn’t even say sorry, just that he would never leave her to run off with Blitzø. There is still a lot that Stolas needs to do to make amends with her, and to repair the ruptures in their relationship.

Due to this, at the time this episode came out, I thought that this was just the very beginning of Stolas’ first character arc—realizing his actions could truly HURT those he cared about, and having to come to terms with the fact that he was in the wrong. That something he did, hurt those around him, and that he would need to take responsibility for that.

“Loo-loo Land” went to such great lengths to show us that Stolas is imperfect. That he is someone who is capable of mistakes and doing the wrong thing, of being oblivious and selfish, and of needing to do better.

And before “The Circus” and “Seeing Stars”, I believed that the writers could develop his character to grow and change and become a better person for his loved ones.

This doesn’t happen however, as again the writers bend over backwards to make sure that Stolas never has to actually directly answer for his mistakes. So much so that they literally don’t let him say “Sorry” to Octavia the next time he breaks a promise to her and doesn’t consider her needs before his own.

After S2E2 of Helluva Boss, “Seeing Stars”, came out, I officially lost any faith in the writers to have Stolas ACTUALLY take ownership and responsibility for the ways he harms those he loves. That first step he took on the path to healing his relationship with Octavia from “Loo Loo Land” has been totally erased, and I can’t imagine whatever resolution they come up with for his character will be satisfying.

I have no doubt that Stolas will receive a happy ending, but I predict it will be one with 0 stakes, and 0 satisfaction, because it will not have been earned. I worry that with any character flaw or upset he causes, another character will be swept under the rug in order to make Stolas appear as if he was always in the right.

As I’ve said before, if that’s the story the writers want to tell, that’s fine. It’s their story, not mine.

I just personally cannot imagine not wanting to explore those character faults and acknowledge them. Maybe, hopefully, I’ll be pleasantly surprised. I’d really like that.

I’ll be following up to this post with a critique specifically of how “Seeing Stars” is very much a retread of “Loo Loo Land”, but in all the worst ways possible.

TLDR;

-In my opinion, the initial handling of Stolas as a flawed and complex character who could make mistakes and be in the wrong was really well done.

-The first canon episode that gives Stolas focus, “Loo Loo Land”, goes to great lengths to show us the ways in which Stolas has failed Octavia.

-This was a great set-up for character development and for Stolas to have to come to terms with his actions and change, but future episodes do not follow through on this set up.

-Will be talking about the episodes that undo the set ups for Stolas’ character development in Part 2.

#helluva boss critical #helluva boss critique #helluva boss criticism #stolas critical #? I guess? not really? more just examining what I interpret as poor writing choices with his character #media critique #media criticism #long post #HB critique #I don’t know if I want to tag as critical cause I’ve seen some people dunking on the creators #and I just don’t feel comfortable with talking that way about people I really don’t know #I’ve gleaned from some other critique accounts that there is a good deal of drama within the fandom and surrounding the creator #but again I don’t know the creator personally and I also don’t think it’s very fair to chalk every single decision made in a collaborative #to a single person #part 1 of 2 #octavia goetia #poor Octavia

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