#sort of a character analysis

[splatattackz]

a little bit of a ramon character analysis in all of this;

(from someone whos watched him basically since the start of the egg event)

let me preface this by saying BOTH sunny and ramon are very valid in how they feel right now, i just want to go through and explain how things are from ramons point of view.

lets start off. imagine youre a kid. its just you and your dad, because your other dad left you before you had really begun to speak. you're a kid, and youve never really gotten to have a childhood. from a mix of one of your dads leaving (and how he treated you before he left), to feeling isolated from every other egg (besides a few, a little), to feeling like you have to protect and save everyone else - youve never gotten to be a kid. you still remember that day, when the party exploded, and you were hailed a hero for saving all your siblings. you hadn't felt like a hero, you were scared you were going to die before you had done anything you deemed useful. the worlds loneliest hero. you are only 3 months old at this point. youve died already and live life on one life, a life that threatens to slip away every. single day. youve watched siblings die. youve watched worry swamp your dad, and youve heard his greatest secret. you are only a kid. this is not a childhood. youve never even had a sleepover.

and then enters the picture 3 new siblings. and you love them. you realize, youre now a big brother. and you take that with pride. you care for them. you protect them. youre trying to protect them from your own fate, of not having a childhood. and bad things happen. and you fail. and you fail. and you fail. and youre sorry, and it adds to emotional stress thats been building up for months with no escape hatch in sight.

and then something amazing happens! youve helped your dad find someone to love. you have a pai now. now neither you nor your dad are truly alone, you cant be. you feel amazing. you feel like you can be a kid now, your biggest worry gone. you feel like youve finally done something useful. you can be a kid now. ... except, you can't. not really. because one of the people you considered a big brother, alongside your little sister, are trying to ruin what youve accomplished. theyre trying to destroy your happiness, you think. everything youve worked for - theyre trying to make a rift between your dad and your pai. and your angry. so unbelievably angry. and you shouldn't be angry at your little sister, you know this. you shouldnt feel salty. your dad explained you cant be mad at the child for the parents' actions. but you cant find yourself to stop this anger. the emotional stress that has been building is breaking and being let out at someone you dont want to be mad at. but you cant bring yourself to face her and talk to them. you just want to be happy why cant they see that? why cant her dad see that?

you are finally being happy, you have such a big family now, and theyre trying to ruin it - and turn you and them both are beginning to lose family (eachother) but you cant help it. youre just a kid! youre just a kid seeing 2 peoole you love try to break up your dad and your pai! how are you supposed to feel? youre done being the grown up. after all these months you get to finally be a kid in a proper family. you just want to be a kid. why cant they let you be a kid?

tl;dr; ramons just a kid whos never gotten to be a kid and when he finally does get to be one he sees two of the people he loves the most try and ruin that. how can he NOT be salty and angry? he just wants to be a kid, is it too much to ask?

#gahh i love this kid #and hes very justified where hes coming from #as is sunny dont get me wrong! #its not either of their responsibilities to fix this #THEY ARE JUST KIDS #its their parents responsibilities to show them everything is okay #like i dont like shifting stuff but #its current tubbo fit and pacs responsibilities to fix this #because these two are just kids #they cant sort through this on their own #yk? #qsmp #qsmp ramon #character analysis #qsmpattackz #splatattackz

[rdr2gifs]

I often wonder what sets Arthur apart and makes him particularly appealing to me compared to other characters (in general). One significant factor lies in how he perceives and interacts with women. Arthur views women as equals, rejecting any notion that he is superior because they often do tasks traditionally associated with women, such as laundry and other chores.

He also never doubts capabilities of women like Sadie, who perform tasks usually associated with men. It's essential to note that one of Arthur's initial scenes with Sadie may be misinterpreted, as Sadie herself belittles the work of other women, not Arthur.

Arthur maintains healthy relationships with the female gang members, with none of them serving as a love interest. He sees men and women as equal, believing everyone should be able to walk their own path in life. He treats women with respect and he doesn’t expect any reward for his behaviour (sadly this is how many men seem to think even in the current time). He doesn’t see women in the gang as a cover (Dutch) nor like a liability (Micah). He sees them as people and valuable members of the gang.

Even in situations where he has to help women, he never considers them any less capable nor downplays their abilities.

Arthur's respect for women is also shown in his interactions with individuals outside the gang, such as the circus lady and the rich widow. After the circus lady thanks him for his help, he’s quick to say she would’ve been able to do it without him. He encourages her to pursue her dream in a so far male-dominated industry. He doesn’t look down on the widow, who doesn’t know anything about survival. He doesn’t tell her to go back to the city where she came from. He tries to teach her in a natural and encouraging way, never acting as if he was better than her because he has more experience. He patiently teaches her without any condescension.

He initially doesn’t understand why Beau even tries to stop Penelope from participating in the women's rights march. I like to think this is because he thinks everyone should be able to fight for their cause/what they believe is right. Not to mention he very much enjoyed riding with these ladies and wrote about his experience with fondness.

Arthur's journal entries reveal his disapproval of mistreating women, recognizing the injustice in an era when women had limited autonomy. “He treats his daughter like a possession to be mistreated and abused as he sees fit. Strange creatures men.” It was definitely not common for men in this time to be thinking about women's autonomy.

I don’t want to praise Arthur for things that should be considered the bare minimum but these qualities definitely add more to his likability. And it’s great to see where your favorite character stands on important things like this.

⚘ While acknowledging that Arthur's antagonistic lines may be interpreted as sexist, it's important to consider them as optional elements mostly implemented to make 13 years old boys feel edgy.

#analysis? sort of #thank you for reading #please try to not take this post as me saying john doesn't respect women or that arthur is somehow better than him #i am an arthur fan first and foremost and i'm only interested in writing about him #i don't feel the need to bring one character down to highlight the traits of another ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ #arthur morgan #red dead redemption 2 #rdr2 #don't even mention the ''i didn't know i was talking to a lady'' scene #to somehow prove ''arthur doesn't respect women'' #she disrespected him first totally unprovoked for no reason #my gifs #it was totally deserved #rdr2 gifs #text post

[t1sunfortunate]

I truly do think one of the largest pitfalls among the "media consumption is my passion" crowd is the tendency to treat characters as human beings with agency rather than narrative tools manipulated by the author

#as soon as you start assigning agency to characters any criticism of the series comes under strawman fallacy arguments #about how humans make irrational choices not always understood by others etc etc etc #thus insulating the author and the work from any sort of meaningful criticism or analysis #i think current popular advice on character writing overemphasizes relatability and likability at the expense of narrative relevance #it certainly isn't hurtful to do exercises where you think about their coffee order or favourite animal or preferred toilet paper brand #but none of that matters in the end if you have no idea what purpose a character is supposed to serve in a literary sense

[comradekatara]

"I think we need to put sokka in more horrifying situations in general" literally preach girl, practically all of my modern aus and canon aus are sokka centric in the way that zuko centric fics are ✨zuko-centric✨ iykyk

the thing about sokka is that he is like. fundamentally a side character. especially for the genre that he happens to be in. which means that making him the main character also necessarily shifts the genre, tone and narrative conventions into something far darker. focalizing sokka necessitates a more cynical and sinister narrative. hence why in episodes where he is just doing something in the background, it’s usually some kind of wacky hijinks, but the rare sokka-centric episode is like “what’s the point of living if we’re all going to die someday. what’s the point of doing anything if suffering is inevitable. i wish i could kill myself but that implies i have enough agency to make autonomous choices over my own life and i’m not even enough of a person to get to decide for myself whether i live or die. i know i am insignificant and yet everything still hurts so much.” and then the narrative has enough of that and the next episode he’s back to being the schlimazel of the universe for everyone’s amusement. cool stuff

#witchering10123 #asks #sokka #analysis #sort of #i love him so much #side character coded. like if george costanza was also some kind of killing machine

[thestarlessdark]

The scene where Mitsuri's parents secretly watch her as she dyes her hair black in order to look like an acceptable bride is a scene I think about a lot.

The look of sheer pain and sadness on their faces feels like a punch in the gut to me, mainly because I've never encountered any parent who actually cares that much about their child. In fact, I nearly cried when I first saw that scene.

Where I live, first impressions are everything. If you mess up in front of others, you are seen as a disappointment and parents can go to almost any length to make their children seem like perfect angels in public, going as far as pressuring them to hide their true self and craft a more palatable persona for others to interact with.

Mitsuri's parents are the opposite of this. They love her for who she is and are never seen telling her to 'act like a lady,' which is amazing considering the time KNY takes place in. They are anguished instead of thrilled when they see Mitsuri trying to cover up her real personality.

Seeing parents truly love their child for who they are will never feel boring or overdone for me, considering how rare it is in real life.

#unfortunately most of what i said about parents in my country comes from experience #sure mine aren't as bad as most of the others but they've certainly done a lot of damage my self-worth and mental health #plus it's really annoying when people don't take mitsuri's trauma seriously and boil her down into a 'boy-obsessed romantic' #character analysis #sort of #mitsuri's parents #mitsuri kanroji #mitsuri #demon slayer mitsuri #kny mitsuri #kny kanroji #demon slayer #kimetsu no yaiba #kny

[chirpsythismorning]

This is everything

cr: @hellfiresbyers

#byler #will byers #mike wheeler #analysis #Will growing up with Jonathan encouraging him that being is freak the best #and that it’s way better to like the things you like and embrace it #than to pretend to be someone you’re not #whereas mike doesn’t have someone close to him encouraging him to be himself #which is why they clash so much in s3 #followed by Eddie sort of being that influence on mike to be more true to himself and what he likes #they’re arcs go so well together #i was thinking about this the other day in regards to their s3 vs s4 funkos #wills s3 funko is connected to dnd #mikes s4 funko is connected to dnd #they’re also the only characters with dnd related funkos #and that just speaks volumes #specifically when it comes to mike pretending he didn’t want to play in s3 #only to do a 180 in s4 with it being pretty much his main focus in Hawkins in s4 #like that’s gotta be the biggest byler evidence to me #Mike loving dnd arguably more than all of them #only to drop it #then pick it back up again #it’s so weird even now still seeing Redditors claim will was childish for wanting to play in s3 #tho they have nothing to say about Mike switching up in s4 #does that make him childish then?? #or is there more to it…? #he’s also the one who put the no gfs and dnd for the rest of their lives together #in our heads in the first place #he voiced it as not something that he hated the idea of but that he saw as not being an option #he saw it as something he had to let go of almost and just jump into the life he’s expected to live…

[writing-for-life]

About Love As The Catalyst For Change

Okay, so while I was going through all the panels for March Mania, I also stumbled over these ones again:

And although I’ve read it all a million times and had all these feelings before, I just need to blurt them out:

Love Is What Changes Him

It’s such a central message of The Sandman, but I feel it often gets lost in a million other things. And they’re all important, but so is this one.

Because yes, Dream went with Delirium and found Destruction (and Despair found him btw), and his Destiny was Death. And that whole Desire thing… ‘nuff said. BUT… (major spoilers ahead)

Those panels above are basically the turning point in a nutshell. No, well, the turning point is actually the moment he kisses (and then kills) Orpheus, but those panels are the essence:

He set out with Delirium in hopes to find Thessaly (the pendant Nuala wears here used to be hers, and she gave it to her when she left the Dreaming and him. And I can’t even begin to tell you how I feel about him letting Nuala keep a gift of his ex, who betrays him later by protecting the woman he hurt, and then making it the item that holds the power with which Nuala can call in her boon. One could spin that very far in all sorts of different directions).

But when he comes back after killing Orpheus, it doesn’t really matter anymore. Thessaly was the usual romanticised dream that could never be real. But he finally did find love. For his son. The unconditional kind. The one that doesn’t need anything in return because it just is. And he was loved back, if for a brief moment. But it was real, not a dream. And that love stays real (that’s why it initiates the turn, 3rd act and all that).

I’m reminded again of the words of Frank McConnell in his intro to The Kindly Ones:

“And with [killing Orpheus], Dream has entered time, choice, guilt and regret—has entered the sphere of the human.”

(Side note at this point: With all of this in mind, read Dream Hunters [again], and look at all THREE main characters—that includes the onmyōji, not just the monk and the fox.)

And it would be so easy to say, “Well, love killed him then, what’s the fucking point?” Not just the love for his son, but also the love of a maiden who called in her boon (Nuala), the love of a mother for her child (Lyta), the love of a crone for no one but herself (Thessaly).

But we all know that “change or die” was never an “either or”, because it’s an “and both”. And it’s ultimately love, in all its shapes and forms, four times over, that changed him (while it was also part of the death knell, but that’s a complicated one. In any case, it also led to change: To be(come) a new, better, kinder Dream).

Yes, call me romantic or hopeless (although I think that’s the wrong word in this context, because I feel it’s the opposite), I don’t care.

Because that story is about catharsis. And that means Dream is a vessel for our feelings. And the feelings won’t be the same if we change any of this, for better, for worse. Because truthfully: That story is about me. And you. And you.

About allowing love, of whatever kind (this is very clearly not just about romantic love), to change us. And that ultimately means letting go (of control). Just like he did.

Bleurgh, I’m crying. Catharsis 🤣

#the sandman #sandman #neil gaiman #dream of the endless #morpheus #daniel!dream #sandman meta #sort of because it’s a bit feely #and shortish and without a million references #but I’ve brought them several times #in my pinned post #sandman analysis #sandman character analysis #the sandman comics #nuala of the faerie #lyta hall #Thessaly #orpheus sandman #love changes #tragedy #catharsis #sandman spoilers #the sandman spoilers #sandman book club #sandman bookclub

[the-sage-libriomancer]

Shigure's relationship with Kyo drives me crazy. he doesn't hate Kyo in the slightest - in fact, he pities Kyo, and not in the condescending "oh you poor little boy, cursed to be a horrible, disgusting monster" sort of way that everyone else does. Shigure pities Kyo for the reason he should be pitied: he's just a kid caught up in a system so inhumane it can't possibly be survived without some seriously unhealthy coping mechanisms.

and it drives me crazy because - listen, Shigure is the only zodiac member who's emotionally aware enough to see the other zodiac members as exactly what they are. he knows Yuki is a severely traumatized kid who projects all of his self-hatred on a single convenient target. he knows Akito is really a scared little girl with a raging god complex (literally) and no concept of a healthy relationship. and he knows Kyo is a regular-ass human being who doesn't deserve to be locked up for the rest of his life just because some arbitrary system says so. he KNOWS it's stupid. he KNOWS it's ridiculous and unfair. and he has to share a house with Kyo knowing that Kyo is living with a sword over his head, hating himself and hating others in perfect tandem because he has no other way of coping with the insane amounts of negativity he's had to deal with his entire life.

but the thing about Shigure is that he KNOWS all of this, and the same time he doesn't really CARE. he feels sorry for Kyo, but an apathetic sort of pity, a disinterested "this is how it is. such a shame." sort of pity. in some ways he's worse than the other zodiacs because he DOES see Kyo as a person, someone he likes being around even, but he still considers Kyo below his attention because all his focus is on Akito and breaking the curse. and sure, once the curse is broken Kyo will theoretically be set free with the rest of them, but that's more of a coincidental side effect than anything. despite being in a much more dangerous and precarious mental space AND comfortably in Shigure's reach, Kyo is about as much a priority for Shigure as Ritsu or Momiji.

and it drives me CRAZY because i think Shigure does start actively caring about Kyo as the series goes on, but it's hard to tell when that happens and to what extent. when Kazuma told Shigure he planned to reveal Kyo's true form and Shigure said he was going too far - whose sake was it for? was Shigure trying to protect Kyo, who would be hideously traumatized/emotionally scarred by such a cruel betrayal? was he trying to protect Kyo and Tohru's relationship, which was still formulating and might, under such severe testing, ultimately end up damaged beyond repair? was he only trying to protect Tohru, who wasn't ready to be burdened by such a horrible aspect of the curse so soon, or perhaps simply didn't deserve it? or was it all for the sake of himself, trying to protect his still-forming plans of using Tohru's positive effect on the Sohmas to break the curse?

Shigure cares about Kyo, but they're not close and Kyo clearly isn't a priority. he treats Kyo like a person - offering him genuine advice, teasing him like he teases anyone else, even speaking up on his behalf once or twice - and yet he's too entrenched in the long game to spare much active interest in Kyo. for a very long time, he doesn't care about Kyo the way he cares about Yuki or Tohru, and it's never made clear when exactly that changed. and the thing that gets me about this whole situation is that right from the start, Shigure is in a position where he can meet Kyo at his level - as equals, just one human being to another - but he doesn't, because Shigure is a chessmaster, Shigure is someone who observes and calculates, Shigure never steps in unless one of his chess pieces makes a wrong move and he absolutely has to.

it drives me crazy. Shigure drives me crazy. this series drives me so so crazy.

#i think my point here was “shigure sees kyo as an actual human being but still treats him badly” #which is kind of the point of shigure - it's why he's such a gray character #he plays with people's lives like they're toys #but this post actually originated from the realization that shigure doesn't hate kyo in the slightest #(honestly i don't think the majority of the zodiac actually *dislikes* kyo. i think they're just too used to dehumanizing him) #and i was like “okay. so how *does* shigure view kyo?” #and then i thought about it more and went progressively more insane #tbf i think shigure knew he was being immoral in the way he treated kyo #he's incredibly self-aware and knows exactly what he's doing #he just chooses to do it anyway. that's why he calls himself “despicable” #i think the fact that kyo clearly suspects shigure has something more going on under the surface probably didn't help either #it's a very interesting sort of complex #anyway. them #fruits basket #shigure sohma #kyo sohma #analysis #edited for your convenience #(<-capitalized all the names bc it was driving me up the wall)

[skyefeys]

i envision pre-speech contest kazuma to be very similar in personality to post-return kazuma - stoic, intense, and fixed on his goals. it makes sense - his life at this point revolves around avenging his father, and it's strongly implied he has little connections to others, despite growing up with the mikotobas.

meeting ryunosuke softens him in a sense - he has a presence in his life that is positive and significant. he has someone who makes him want to be better. he finally allows himself to have a human connection, and this grounds him.

without his memories, traveling to london, it's no wonder he regressed to his prior state. without ryunosuke's presence, he is back to being single-mindedly fixed on his goals. when they reunite, he intentionally puts distance between them (perhaps unconsciously), still blinded in pursuit of these goals. and then of course, ryunosuke is the one to bring him back to reality, and reminds him of the happier kazuma he so briefly was.

the boisterous, playful kazuma is a kazuma that only flourishes when he has his best friend in his life. when he ALLOWS himself to have that connection, and feel the joy of life, instead of obstinately marching towards vengeance.

#i talk more about this sort of thing in my upcoming video essay so keep an eye out! #character analysis #kazuma asogi #tgaa #dgs #dgs2 #dgs2 spoilers #the great ace attorney

[steddielations]

flight of icarus spoilers

Something so heartwarming and gut-wrenching about the development of Wayne and Eddie's relationship:

So, Eddie lives alone in his dad's house (on and off, he goes to stay with Wayne for long stretches throughout his life, but at the start of the book he's 18 and has been there alone for months, by his choice) and Wayne checks in on him and brings him food.

Eddie mentions that Wayne's own shelves are pretty empty, but he always makes sure Eddie's are at least half stocked with things like tv dinners that he knows Eddie can eat easily. Eddie says "Wayne has a pet theory that I can't feed myself, so every two weeks or so I'll come home to find him shoving microwave dinners and canned soup onto the cluttered shelves and into the moldy refrigerator."

When Al shows back up, he belittles this, and says he’ll make Eddie a real meal (mind you he left Eddie with nothing but stale peanut butter and flat soda for days when he was 8) which then turns out to be a big spaghetti dinner over which he manipulates the shit out of Eddie, and dangles the prospect of them moving to California together in front of him, saying they'll make a tradition out of Spaghetti Saturdays. To which Eddie responds, "Like a real family?" (ouch) Of course, that doesn't happen.

But then!! When Eddie moves in with Wayne at the end of the book, he notices that Wayne made an effort to stock vegetables in the fridge. Vegetables. It surprises Eddie and they end up wilting because Eddie just doesn’t know how to react to such a clear act of care towards him. And I just hope they had plenty of family dinners after that (Excerpts below)

(ignore my highlighting it’s irrelevant)

Al leaving Eddie ⬇️

Wayne’s empty shelves ⬇️

Al belittling the food Wayne brings ⬇️

manipulation for dinner ⬇️

Eddie doesn’t know how to react to Wayne’s care (vegetables) ⬇️

#it's all connected in my mind #am i going to make it about steddie and say that the first time steve makes eddie any sort of food he just. crumbles #eddie munson #wayne munson #al munson #flight of icarus #character analysis #stranger things #mp

[a-sour-nectarine]

People don't seem to understand how truly terrifying the third Robin was. Sure, the current one runs around with a sword sometimes and has unprecedented levels of anger trapped in a too-small body, but he will never be scarier than his predecessor. The one who managed to keep a grieving Batman in check. The one who can destroy you without ever laying a finger on you. The one with a speedster, the daughter of Zeus, and a Kryptonian on his side. He leads them. He keeps up with them. He outpaces them.

They love him, respect him. They call him for backup. It is rarely the other way around. He can keep up with Impulse, go toe to toe with Wonder Girl, overpower Superboy.

If you ask the Red Hood or Spoiler, the third Robin can outsmart the Batman. If you ask Batgirl, he is the only one she truly views as challenge. If you ask Nightwing, he will tell you the story of the first time the third Robin ever saved his skin. Before he'd even been Batman's partner, when he was just a stubborn kid with a stolen mask.

He flies without wings and scales buildings on human legs. Gothamites will swear up and down that he can bend steel and break concrete. Even Metropolis respects him, cheers him on. No other Bat has that privilege.

And yet he has the gentlest hands. The softest smile. There is nowhere safer than in his shadow. Nowhere better protected than in his care. Nowhere as comforting as under his watchful gaze.

#apparently the only time i can ever get into a character analysis sort of mood is when i think of tim drake #i didnt think he was my favorite robin but i seem intent on proving myself wrong #dc #talkin' shop #tim drake #robin #red robin #batman #batfamily #character analysis #red hood #black bat #batgirl #spoiler dc #young justice #yj 98 #wonder girl #superboy #impulse #nightwing #should i even tag all those characters? #meh #i would feel sad if i erased them all now #core four #thats more relevant #i will not tag damian cuz i am not in the mood for robin discourse #they can all be cool its fine #this is written from the perspective of.... idk. a lois lane type character. someone how knows a lot but not everything

[leovaldezdefender]

the downgrade of villains from pjo to hoo is so disappointing. luke castellan was such a good villain with an interesting backstory and motivations and it HURTS to see the villain that succeeds him. because gaea, to put it bluntly, kind of sucks. 

she has no emotional heart, no theme or message to send. she doesn't have a character you can sympathise with, she's not out-there enough to be hated strongly, she's not likeable enough to be one of those charming villains. the series flip-flops between trying to give her good qualities but never expanding on any of them, and trying to make her pure evil but never making her commit to it enough to be enjoyable.

she's just there. she's little more than a plot device, the Ultra Big Bad that we have to fight. and sometimes there's nothing wrong with that! but considering how hoo fails in every other aspect, the bland villain is just another disappointment. luke was what made the original pjo so good — the themes he carried, the tragedy of his life, the base of his character which served as the main core of the story, the balance between good intentions and the corruption of self.

as a result, gaea is just... fine. she’s not an absolutely terrible villain, but she looks second-rate compared to luke and kronos, despite being a lot more powerful, simply because they were much richer in themes and storytelling. even the decent villainous chemistry she has with leo and hazel isn’t enough to carry her to being interesting. 

but credit where it’s due, i’ll say toa did much better with villains. the portrayal of abuse with nero and meg, the romance between apollo and commodus, caligula's sadism and lust for power, all had way more personality than gaea ever did. (even if i AM still bitter about how a series with the roman emperors as villains wasn't centred around camp jupiter.)

#percy jackson #pjo #heroes of olympus #hoo #pjo meta #most of this is copy pasted from my rant on twitter but i added some stuff as well #that i wasnt able to fit in because of the character limit #pjo gaia #pjo gaea #luke castellan #trials of apollo #kronos #pjo analysis #riordanverse analysis #trying to sort out tags for stuff like this...

[caffeinatedrogue]

btw psa nobody asked for and largely but not completely unprompted: I see bitching about the way people roll their characters, their looks their race their origins their backstory they're too vanilla they're too edgy choice of romance omg you copied me - I will block. I see biphobic wank about women/femme chars romancing Astarion or men/masc chars romancing Karlach or whatever and being nasty to the people who do, I will block. Etc etc Iykyk but my patience has been reduced to level: paper thin so I just wanna live in peace, enjoy things and talk about them without the cloud of people who have to stomp on other people's sandcastles hanging over my damn dash. ta-ta

#and this goes for all fandoms truly but since this is sort of fresh #what I'm here for: essay level character and theme analysis #also being extremely dumb cause yknow my vibe #what I'm not here for: mental exhaustion due to people who can't behave

[spaceprinceencie]

I think about Nagito’s death at the end of SDR2 a lot. There’s so much symbolism and meaning in it. His death reflects a lot of the other deaths from the first game, which is a cool easter egg, but the meaning of that also kind of blows my mind. 

The symbolism of how he’s embodying so much of the despair from the first game, compiled into a single death. How he’s depending on his luck to burn out every last ounce of despair from this death game, while also embodying every ounce from the last one at the same time. He - intentionally/consciously or not - is embodying as much despair as he can so he can burn it all away and bring hope. 

But most recently I’ve also been thinking a lot about the spear. 

Because there’s two major ways you can interpret Nagito’s luck cycle: either luck is a real supernatural force that exists in the DR universe, or Nagito is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Personally, I do think it’s hard to argue that everything that happens to Nagito throughout the series is totally unrelated to some greater supernatural force. But I also think it’s so tragic to think of his luck cycle as just a bunch of psychological tricks. So a little bit of this is a “what if”: even if it’s not the most likely explanation, there is a way of arguing for it and I think that’s interesting. He believes with all his heart that he’s cursed by this luck cycle. That good and bad will happen to him in extremes, in waves. Confirmation bias tells us he’ll pick out that pattern easily, searching for evidence that supports his understanding of the world, and then presenting what is essentially cherry-picked evidence to other characters. Which is often what we see of his luck cycle: the narrative he has constructed. Then, throw in how he’d subconsciously make decisions and put himself in situations that further supports his view of himself and the world. He might purposefully put himself in precarious positions when he thinks there’s bad luck due. He might do something like hang a spear above his own head. That act, metaphorical or literal, is then, also sort of his essence, isn’t it? Nagito hangs spears above him, poised to kill him, and waits for his luck - real or not - to use them. And when the spear falls, because if you keep hanging spears above your head eventually they’ll fall, he calls it intentional and purposeful. He calls it part of his luck cycle. But how much of it is really luck, and how much of it is that he’s just hanging spears and waiting? How much of it is that he really believes he deserves bad luck or pain or hurt? Honestly, we don’t know exactly if the poison killed him before the spear did. We can certainly assume it did, since Monokuma rules Nanami the killer, and because the spear was supposedly released upon Nagito’s death (and the nature of the poison). However, I think there’s enough doubt in there to argue that, even if its unlikely, the spear did kill him. Monokuma could’ve lied, there was no one and no way to prove him wrong after all. The poison could’ve weakened Nagito just enough that he wasn’t dead until the spear impaled him. 

Just, think of the potential symbolism of the fact that we can only assume- based on incomplete and biased observations - that the poison killed him. That Nagito’s luck killed him. From that biased assumption, we are led to believe his luck is cyclic and intentional. Just like everything Nagito does and says could be seen as a biased presentation of evidence that leads us to the same conclusions. But realistically we can also assume that Nagito just killed himself by hanging a spear over himself and waiting. We can also assume Nagito's luck isn't as drastic as he claims. What if, in reality, he just keeps hanging spears above him and waiting, maybe even hoping, they fall?

#danganronpa #sdr2 #nagito komaeda #danganronpa 2 #character analysis #theory post #sort of? idk if this counts #i'm just Thinkin you know? #i like making plausible theories that make my favorite media even more tragic than it is #or writing plausible interpretations i suppose #send me asks about this if u want im always down to talk analysis #long post

[findafight]

I think, despite his former King Steve persona, that the parent Steve is actually afraid of becoming, is his mother.

Hear me out. S1 Steve flips out when he thinks Nancy is cheating on him. Like full crazy ex girlfriend shit and letting his friends spraypaint shit on a marquee and goading the guy he thinks she cheated with into a fight.

And then. He tries to fix it. He tells his friends off, he helps clean up the graffiti, he goes to Jonathan's house to apologize for the horrendous shit he said. And then gets pulled into the supernatural monster killing plot.

So it's clear he knows his insecurity spiral was bad. He does his best to fix things before he ever has to save Nancy and Jonathan's lives. In S2 Nancy and Jonathan are friends, and while we don't see it until the "no, that must have been your other boyfriend" line, Steve's probably still a bit insecure about that friendship but doesn't mention it.

Like. He saw he went off the possessive insecure temper tantrum deep end, and decided that along with being a less assholish 16 year old, he was also going to trust his partner not to cheat on him even if he was still a bit uncomfortable with it.

Given what we know about Steve's parents, that his mom often or usually goes with his dad on his business trips because she "doesn't trust him", he's probably seen his mother paranoid about his father's infidelity as well as desperately clinging to a relationship that is untrusting at best. So he's seen his mom do possibly the exact same as he did in S1 (though less public) and thinks he's not gonna be that.

He is getting his act together. He trusts Nancy and, to an extent, Jonathan (fighting an interdimensional monster together really has a way of at least building respect for each other). He isn't going to flip that Nancy has a boy who is a friend who also clearly has a crush on her. It's fine. Nancy is great, and he can't fault Jon for his feelings. He trusts them. He's trying to move on from the upside down, and he's trying to be a better person, and he's trying not to become his mother.

Then, of course, S2 happens.

#steve Harrington #stranger things #st4 #stranger things meta #steve Harrington meta #character analysis #i have many thoughts on this #and i havent seen anyone brong up steve actively not wanting to become is mother but knowing he probably is #finda's rambles #finda writes stuff #fuck it lets put tags on it #stancy #because its relevant sort of. #steddie

[posletsvet]

I had another one of those thoughts that are bordering on slightly delusional.

Chances are it's already been pointed out by someone before me, but. How come Geto's body reacting to Gojo calling out to him was 'a first' for Kenjaku? Did they only ever choose those who happened to have no loved ones that would want their person back? But we have Itadori's parents, and they deeply loved each other and didn't stop loving till the very end. Is the bond between Satoru and Suguru really so strong as to surpass the one between a happily married couple? And then it sort of struck me that perhaps it's the first time Kenjaku so openly and directly violates their host body's will.

I like to entertain the thought that Kenjaku is not at all detached from human connections and emotion. While they are capable of seperating their conscious from the experience that comes along with the body they're inhabiting, this experience is still an intrinsic part of that body. All romanticization aside, one's personality is dictated by one's physiology. Our feelings are something biological, a network of interconnected structures and chemical levels within our bodies. Who we are is engraved upon our hearts, in a literal sense. To quote Kenjaku themself, 'The body is the soul, and the soul the body'. If it were otherwise, they probably wouldn't be able to mimic various people's personalities so accurately and convincingly as to fool their closest friends and family.

So maybe Kenjaku does feel their host's lingering emotions and is to some degree influenced by its impulses. Maybe while in Kaori's body they did feel the love that remained in her for Jin, did feel the body's budding affection towards a child it gave birth to, did have some maternal instinct. But knowing full well those feelings are but a product of their current body, I imagine they have a far better grasp on them, too, and treat them as tools at their disposal, just sometimes indulging in what the body tells them to do. In Kaori's case, I think they could afford to go with the flow more. They felt the body's urges and responded by acting upon them -- because why not? They're an epitome of 'mess around and find out'.

With them taking over Geto's body, it's different. They're no longer eminence grise operating from the shadows, they've entered the game they'd been orchestrating for so long. Now they're truly proactive, and no longer being under disguise they're more themself than ever, too. And it directly contradicts with the person Geto is (or was). We do not yet know what Kenjaku's true intentions are, but it's unlikely they align with what Geto would want to put his mind to.

And Geto never wanted to do any harm to Gojo. In those ten years, never once did he make a move directly against him. Meanwhile it's an inherent part of Kenjaku's plans. So when it comes to it, Geto's very nature, those tiny glimpses of him still lingering somewhere within his body, cries out against it.

Caring for people around him was Geto's defining trait, and his body still carries those attachments, that love. Responding to Gojo is an instinct his flesh still remembers. Trying to protect him is engraved upon Geto's muscle memory. Kenjaku's actions are essentially at odds with all that, so that puts the body and the soul in discord -- and they clash eventually, getting out a reaction from otherwise dormant and inanimate flesh. No wonder Kenjaku calls that poetic.

#jujutsu kaisen #jjk #jjk analysis #kenjaku #kaori itadori #jin itadori #gojo satoru #geto suguru #satosugu #alright i'm back and come bearing angst again #actually i think kenjaku has some sort of strange fascination with gojo #be it satoru or the gojo clan with their six eyes technique in general #they believe that next stage of evolution lies in optimizing cursed energy #and the six eyes allow for insanely high precision and control when it comes to manipulating cursed energy #if i were them i'd fascinated by this fact alone #aside from this whole 'bound by fate to tengen' business #*rattles my cage* #gege pleass i need to know #side note: god kenjaku is an incredibly interesting character #and a great villain too #i'm dying to learn more about them #jjk meta