#that's the character

[getvalentined]

Having a long chat with a couple friends about the dichotomy between two major deaths in FF7, both of which are technically assisted suicides, and what they mean for the characters involved.

Aerith allowed herself to be killed in the City of the Ancients in order to petition the Planet to activate Holy directly, because being half human rendered her incapable of speaking to the Planet directly. She didn't do anything wrong and she's given her all to do this any other way, but the flaw is in her blood. She can't change it. Her powers are very limited, she can't activate Holy on her own and she can't ask Gaia to do it for her because Gaia can't hear her—so in the City of the Ancients, she realizes that the only way she can save everyone is to die.

Particularly relevant to this discussion is that her first choice appears to be Cloud, who raises his sword over his head to strike her down because of Sephiroth's control over him, but is able to hold back. He's able to stop himself, to back off, to refuse to be responsible for her death. Sephiroth was going to let him do it, and when he manages to hold off, that's when Sephiroth literally jumps in to do it himself. Aerith was going to let Cloud kill her, and when he didn't, she let Sephiroth do it instead.

Important to remember here is that Aerith is a healer. Inherently. We know this from how she works in battle and the fact that she's able to grow flowers in the tainted soil of Midgar. She almost certainly could have saved herself, but she chose not to—even though she didn't want to die, she had always intended to come back, but finally realized that wasn't an option if she wanted to save everyone else.

Aerith's death was inherently and undeniably selfless, and that's the real tragedy of it: she wanted desperately to rely on others, but she couldn't. No matter how much they loved her, the only way that she could keep them safe was through her own death, regardless of how much she wanted to stay.

Aerith's death was an assisted suicide born from selflessness.

In contrast, Angeal demands assistance in his own suicide in order to rid the world of monsters, in order to support his own personal beliefs on what constitutes "suffering" and what honor really is. Angeal dies because he can't bear to live as he is any longer, he can't stand that the facade of an honorable and selfless hero that he spent his entire life building up was torn down—and not even by his own actions, not even because he slipped up, but because of what he is. It's in his blood. He can't change it.

Angeal appears to have chosen Zack to kill him because he thought he could get Zack on his "side," he could convince him that this was the only way. He believed he could convince him that this was the right thing to do. He couldn't, and Zack did everything he could to hold back, desperate to not be the one responsible for his death, but Angeal gave him no choice. Angeal forced him, not through some psychic control or mental manipulation, but by all but literally backing him into a wall and making it a matter of Zack losing his life or taking Angeal's.

Important to remember here is that Hollander states Angeal has full control over the diffusion of his cells, he can push and pull, he can distribute and reunite; if he can pull his cells back into himself, this means that Angeal could "turn off" his own degradation. He almost certainly could have saved himself, but he chose not to—in the end, Angeal appears to succumb not only to his injuries, but to a sudden and accelerated manifestation of degradation. He made sure that he was going to die, because that was the only way to stop being a monster.

Angeal's death was inherently and undeniably selfish, and that's the real tragedy of it: no matter how loved he was, no matter how hard the people around him tried to save him, the only way he could retain his flawed sense of honor and thereby his feelings of self-worth were through his death.

The concept of agency between these two characters and their respective deaths is super interesting to me. In Aerith's selfless death, Cloud was able to retain his agency, he was able to stop himself; in Angeal's selfish death, Zack was denied the right to his own, and was forced to help Angeal reach his goal. I don't think this is necessarily indicative of the difference between Cloud and Zack as characters so much as the difference in circumstances: Cloud had his friends with him and so succeeded in staying his hand, whereas Zack was entirely his own and thus he failed. It really drives home the core theme of FF7 being the importance of the people you love and the people that love you.

I don't really have a way to end this, it's mostly navel-gazing and ruminating, but it's so...interesting. It's such a dichotomy, such a juxtaposition. Aerith's death was selfless, and through it she saved the world by being where she was needed, by asking for help from the Planet itself; Angeal's death was selfish, and through it he condemned the world to Sephiroth's eventual wrath, by not being where he was needed, by refusing to trust the people who loved him to love him regardless of what he was. Tragic in every sense of the word.

#fandom ramble #long post #final fantasy 7 #FF7 #crisis core reunion #crisis core #CCFF7R #not giving this character tags #it'll be searchable without them because I named names #but I'd rather keep my more uhhh #angeal critical #stuff #out of his character tag #this isn't me calling him a trash bag btw #but he WAS selfish #he WAS arrogant #he DID care more about his image than the people who loved him #that's the character #it's sad #it's fascinating #and I feel like ignoring those parts of him #or writing them off as 'bad writing' when it's actually his own unreliable presentation of himself #does a disservice to a VERY interesting character #with a TRULY tragic story #but what do I know #I don't like the guy #so my opinion is irrelevant #I guess

[kittarts]

New Coraline design drop

#coraline 2009 #coraline jones #coraline #my art #laika studios #Character design

[jun-hug]

I drew cats from stardew valley :D

kofi | commissions | instagram

#stardew valley #jun arts #stardew valley cats #cat illustration #stardew valley fanart #stardew fanart #stardew art #stv fanart #artists on tumblr #cat art #character design #art #digital art #cats #cute art #sdv fanart #sdv

[koobiie]

shoutout to everyone who wants to infodump but cant string together coherent thoughts to form sentences and instead just look at you like this

#and by 'everyone' i mean me. im just hoping other people relate lmao #someone asks me about a thing i like and im just like h.................. #been thinking about The Character for a solid 6 months+ and let me tell you. expldoeing soon #this is about ffxv btw . how am i supposed to say how much it lives in my brain . i cant think #text #1k #5k #10k #15k #20k #great googly moogly #30k #40k #50k #60k #boooy what da heeel #70k #80k

[ra3kiv]

sea, swallow me

#my art #art #digital art #original character #digital drawing #oc #original character art #ocean #sea #artwork #artists on tumblr #art tag #illustration

[sleepygaymerdisease]

#'who was this about' dont worry <3 #EDIT hi i didnt realize this would get notes LOL. um everyone reblog with what character ur thinking of because im NOSEY i WANNA SEE #edit 2 to everyone trying to guess what the character i made this for was. youre all wrong. this was about kamen rider #youd think lupin because of my profile picture but alas i have other interests as well... #anis gaymer moments

[newtid]

in spirit i am a 7th grade boy

#could've said dick joke but penis joke sounds funnier #shitpost #digital art #art #oc #doodle #oc art #cat #anthro #cat oc #feline #original character

[who-canceled-roger-rabbit]

Some spins on the "mostly male team with a token woman" trope:

The woman is trans and stayed in her old circle of bros even after transition

The woman is the only one in her circle of "girls" who didn't turn out to be a trans man

#of course even in that case i'd still make plenty of other characters female OUTSIDE the main team #there's a they wolf in my closet #gender #transgender #trans #lgbtq+ #queer #story ideas #writing prompts

[butchfalin]

the funniest meltdown ive ever had was in college when i got so overstimulated that i could Not speak, including over text. one of my friends was trying to talk me through it but i was solely using emojis because they were easier than trying to come up with words so he started using primarily emojis as well just to make things feel balanced. this was not the Most effective strategy... until. he tried to ask me "you okay?" but the way he chose to do that was by sending "👉🏼👌🏼❓" and i was so shocked by suddenly being asked if i was dtf that i was like WHAT???? WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME?????????? and thus was verbal again

#yeehaw #1k #5k #10k #posts that got cursed. blasted. im making these tag updates after... 19 hours? #also i have been told it should say speech loss bc nonverbal specifically refers to the permanent state. did not know that! #unfortunately i fear it is so far past containment that even if i edited it now it would do very little. but noted for future reference #edit 2: nvm enough ppl have come to rb it from me directly that i changed the wording a bit. hopefully this makes sense #also. in case anyone is curious. though i doubt anyone who is commenting these things will check the original tags #1) my friend did not do this on purpose in any way. it was not intended to distract me or to hit on me. im a lesbian hes a gay man. cmon now #he felt very bad about it afterwards. i thought it was hilarious but it was very embarrassed and apologetic #2) “why didn't he use 🫵🏼?” didn't exist yet. “why didn't he use 🆗?” dunno! we'd been using a lot of hand emojis. 👌🏼 is an ok sign #like it makes sense. it was just a silly mixup. also No i did not invent 👉🏼👌🏼 as a gesture meaning sex. do you live under a rock #3) nonspeaking episodes are a recurring thing in my life and have been since i was born. this is not a quirky one-time thing #it is a pervasive issue that is very frustrating to both myself and the people i am trying to communicate with. in which trying to speak is #extremely distressing and causes very genuine anguish. this post is not me making light of it it's just a funny thing that happened once #it's no different than if i post about a funny thing that happened in conjunction w a physical disability. it's just me talking abt my life #i don't mind character tags tho. those can be entertaining. i don't know what any of you are talking about #Except the ppl who have said this is pego/ryu or wang/xian. those people i understand and respect #if you use it as a writing prompt that's fine but send it to me. i want to see it #aaaand i think that's it. everyday im tempted to turn off rbs on it. it hasn't even been a week

[apollos-boyfriend]

having such an obvious favorite character trope is life ruining bro

#icarus speaks #SO MAYBE I HAVE A TYPE 😭 #you can literally instantly pinpoint most of my favorite characters it’s so fucking evil

[sylvies-kablooie]

i do unironically think the best artists of our generation are posting to get 20 notes and 3 reblogs btw. that fanfic with like 45 kudos is some of the best stuff ever written. those OCs you carry around have some of the richest backstories and worldbuilding someone has ever seen. please do not think that reaching only a few people when you post means your art isn't worth celebrating.

#i often wonder about how many things would be considered classic or high art had they only received the marketing #how many short films that were made for class could have been the most powerful thing you'd ever seen? if you'd seen them? #“you know the greatest films of all time were never made” etc etc #but like. these works of art ARE being made. it's just enjoyed by a smaller audience with equal impact though #i think about this one furry i used to follow on insta who had the coolest worldbuilding ever. it's been years. #thought prompted by that sketch of nimona from ten years ago that was just for a character design #posted to the creator's tumblr and now it's nominated for best animated feature film at the oscars #and by the genuine emotional reaction a fan comic made me feel. how much work had gone into it. how beautiful it was to me. #idk what to tag this but i hope whoever needs to hear it does #writing #writer #fandom #fandom culture #artist

[bonerey]

characters have to be a little bit awful in ways that you cant defend. its good for the ecosystem. your honor he did do that. He did in fact do that

#tim drake #bruce wayne #can i just tag the entire batfam.... this applies to all of them i think #all of them deal with their issues by putting on spandex and beating up criminals. none of them are exempt from this post #let them make bad stupid inconsiderate decisions... its funny entertaining and free #batfamily #batfam #jason todd #dick grayson #batman #dc batman #dc comics #additionally: #arthur lester #john doe #malevolent john doe #martin blackwood #jonathan sims #tim stoker #sasha james #elias bouchard #peter lukas #tma #every tma character ever actually. they all suck soso bad ❤️️❤️️ #melanie king #daisy tonner #basira hussain #georgie barker #can i tag bruce again. because like

[taahko]

i think some of you dont like narratives or stories or characters i think you just like fanfiction tropes

#when the character has traits that wouldnt fit neatly into a coffeeshop au: 🤯😧😵‍💫😵 #shut up aggie

[ikarakie]

if a character means enough to me i will truly never stop thinking about them. i just retire them into a little back room in my brain and periodically bring them out to stare at them under a little light

#tag your faves #matthew holt #not me black #black not me #levi ackerman #new addition to the list tbh but i know his ass is here to stay #hange zoe #erwin smith #their asses too #keith kogane #lance mcclain #ashamed so many voltron characters are on this list #takashi shirogane #peter parker #tony stark #harley keener #aziraphale #crowley #anthony j crowley #surprisingly? #bakugou katsuki #shouto todoroki #steve harrington #will byers #wallace wells #scott pilgrim #OMG #killua zoldyck #gon freecss #kurapika

[everyoneisgayandtrans]

We're gonna be okay

#every character is gay and trans

[punk-dad-sharkz]

guy who says "FUCK!" to every minor inconvenience x guy who says "oopsie daisies" to earth shattering catastrophes

#yes this is ouizzy #but tag your favourite guys #ouizzy #ship dynamic #character dynamics #i think im funny #izzy x frenchie