#they're not doomed by the narrative. they're at odds with the narrative. this is a story that was never meant to be told

[reiverreturns]

rdr2 is such a special game to replay because. god. the whole thing is a ghost story. the gang is dead before they even reach colter. everything that tears them apart - the mistrust, the friction, the loss, the lack of place and time - it's there from the beginning. before the beginning. papered over by a veneer of love and care and family but when the last of it leaves they're all just. gone. scraps of newspaper headlines faded in the sun and wooden grave markers that will rot and fall back into the earth. if you've played rdr you know what happens to these characters. you play your first playthrough of rdr2 knowing you're hurtling towards an inescapable end. you play every one thereafter knowing the end has already come.

#they're not doomed by the narrative. they're at odds with the narrative. this is a story that was never meant to be told #but it mattered. it fucking mattered. #this game makes me want to tear my hair out honestly #i'm also losing my mind thinking about writing a fic where the strange man pays each gang member a visit #so there's that #reiver plays rdr2 #rdr2

[justruse]

Blood touched your lips.

One moment you were walking home, and the next you were waking up in a hospital room with a searing pain in your neck and an insatiable hunger lingering in your belly. The events of the previous night were a blurry and chaotic mess of fear, panic, and blood.

Your blood...

ONCE BITTEN is a dark romance interactive fiction game set in a vampire-infested 1990s New York City. Navigate the city as you try to regain your footing and find your place as a recently-turned vampire. Being a vampire isn't as glamorous as the stories make it out to be, especially when you have a group of Hunters that want you dead.

Content Warnings: suggestive themes, violence, gore, blood, body horror, drug use, death, animal cruelty, homophobia, and transphobia

* Note: Content warnings, with the option to disable them, will appear before each chapter.

DEMO ✦ PINTEREST ✦ SPOTIFY

Play as a customizable protagonist, with the ability to choose your name (including nicknames), gender, pronouns, and appearance.

Befriend a cast of characters and pursue one of five romance options.

Explore New York City and its vampiric nightlife as a newly-turned vampire. Experience what it truly means to be a creature of the night.

Adopt a dog, or don’t. Be warned, it will come back to bite you.

A focus on choices, rather than stats, that will alter your relationships with the cast as well as the narrative moving forward. Will you choose to embrace your new existence?

Dr. Joseph Levi (he/him)

A seemingly quiet, albeit quite sarcastic, professor at first glance, Dr. Joseph Levi is more than what meets the eye. In reality, he is a type of vampire hunter known as a Keeper—and he also happens to save your life and doom it too.

Vanya Kreisky (she/her)

Beautiful, cunning, and deceptive, Miss Vanya Kreisky is the queen of the Scarlet Palace, a historic hotel and casino nestled in the heart of Manhattan. She much older, and more powerful, than she first lets on, and seems to have an odd interest in you.

Rana Ayari (she/her)

Rana Ayari is the owner of Lilith's Lounge, a small bar near West Village. She's a welcoming face to strangers with an easy-going attitude. Unless you're stirring up trouble, you'll be welcome at Lilith's.

Addison Reyes (he/him | she/her)

Only turned about fifteen years ago, Addison is probably the youngest vampire you'll meet, and because of that, they have a sense of optimism and adventure many older vampires lack. They like to have fun and they'll share it with you—well, whenever they're not stuck working a shift at Lilith's, of course.

Dr. Michael "Ellie" Elliot (he/they)

Dr. Michael Elliot is a doctor working at the hospital you wake up in after being turned. They're quite zany, in a way you can't quite place, and it's obvious they've seen some things in their centuries long existence that they quite haven't processed yet.

#if: once bitten #interactive fiction #if wip #no demo #upcoming if #intro post #twine game #twine if #interactive game #queer characters #lgbtq #vampire

[cat-hesarose]

Izzy Hands and broken promises

Now that I've had a day to digest the ending, I'm still in the "Izzy should have lived" camp but can better understand why it soured an otherwise great season finale for me.

Keep reading if you like rants about storytelling and queer catharsis from people with a Bachelor degree's worth of overconfidence and strong opinions.

Bar a handful of icks (Zheng Yi Sao getting outsmarted by Ricky, etc), I loved this season and don't see a wealth of problems that would not have been solved by two additional episodes. That said, Izzy's death is one of the things I can't see making any more sense if they had more time to explore his journey because his journey is what problematizes djenk's stated reasoning for his death.

In that one interview (and to be fair, we only have a brief window into his intentions as of right now), djenks positions Izzy as two things, specifically to Ed: a mentor and a father figure. And yeah, mentor figures often die. Their student surpasses them, or acquires a new narrative drive from their mentor's death to continue a quest.

Neither of these things feel like a fit for Izzy and Ed's dynamic nor their respective arcs. Neither does "father figure". Izzy was a love interest. He was described as a love interest. He confessed love to Edward. His mentor relationship was more established with Stede, if anything, who is an unreliable narrator and may well have been lying about Edward claiming that Izzy taught him everything he knows.

The journey that Izzy went on this season was parallel to Ed and Stede but it was with the crew. It's one big queerplatonic love story essentially, of him finding himself as an individual through the support they give and the space they hold for him. Season 2 Izzy Hands is, among other things, a love letter and showcase of the queer community's power to revive hope and purpose.

Izzy has the world's messiest breakup with Ed when they're both at their worst, and his healing begins with the crew of the Revenge. He only interacts with Ed again after bonding with, and growing through, the crew. So yes, it absolutely makes sense that his journey would proceed towards making peace with/saying goodbye to "Blackbeard". But it does not make sense that it would end there, with his death.

Djenks says that they're pirates, and people die. And yeah they do. But in the hand-wavy logic universe of OFMD it feels dismissive to say that about the death of a major character. And odds are, David "Izzy is my favourite character" Jenkins is not dismissive of Izzy, so that leaves tragedy.

My issue with that is, season 2 Izzy is no longer an innately tragic character. If you told me at the end of season 1 that season 2 would end with Izzy dying in Edward's arms telling him to go forth and change and accept love, I would've gone "that's sad but it makes sense." Because it would have, at the time. Season 2 Izzy departed from the trappings (so I thought) of the doomed fate of the bitter old repressed grimdark pirate when he put on the gold-painted wooden hoof and embraced his new role as First Mate of Stede Bonnet's gay floating kindergarten.

His death feels like a betrayal because, in a show that does queer characters Really Well, Izzy's arc feels like a broken promise. To say nothing of the politics of having a character attempt suicide, begin to heal, then say "I want to go" before dying, I wanted Izzy to want to live. It really felt like that was where his character was going, where his character was supposed to go.

Death for a character who is showing all this potential is only a natural ending in a tragedy. It isn't presented as peaceful or to punctuate another character's growth. Season 2 Izzy Hands had ceased to be reliant on and subject to Blackbeard. If anything, he was tied to the crew, who all stood back and felt much more removed from his death than they probably would have been if the show had more time to show their emotional responses. Having him die in Ed's arms, apologising for fueling Ed's destructive tendencies and encouraging him to be himself and accept love, feels like he got shunted off his new arc and back onto the old one. It feels like he went through all of that just to take a last-minute huge step back and re-subjugate himself to this character who does not reciprocate his devotion.

It makes me wonder if his death scene was one of the first ones written, before all that energy was spent giving him a new life and new connections and new, you know, new reason to live.

Anyway, that's how I feel about it. TL;DR Izzy's growth should have included LIVING HIS HARD-WON NEW LIFE and if I ever see djenks i'm going to cross the road and avoid eye contact.

#ofmd #ofmd meta #ofmd spoilers #ofmd season 2 #ofmd season 2 spoilers #izzy hands #storytelling #comedy and tragedy #why yes i am participating in #discourse #media literacy #fandomposting #stede and izzy should have fucked

[classpecting-the-hoyoverse]

Adventurine: The Maid of Light

Maid: The active creation class

One who creates aspect or creates through aspect

One who creates aspect for themselves

Alternatively, one who fixes aspect

Light

Abstract: Knowledge, Awareness, Attention, Relevance, Fortune, Luck

Literal: Actual Light (Brightness), Vision, Eyes, the Sun, Stars

Light, the aspect of facts and fortune. If there's a chance of something happening, even at the smallest odds, the Light-bound will grasp onto that possibility. Take for example a gambler in a game of blackjack, the odds are against him and his chances of winning are slim. Yet, despite everything, the gambler walks away with more money than he came in with.

It's a facet that's less emphasized, not even the Extended Zodiac mentions the aspect's fortuitous traits. But within Homestuck's narrative, luck is shown to be one of the most important parts of being a Light-bound.

Let's discuss, starting with...

Aranea! A fellow Light-bound healer. As a Sylph of Light, not only can she heal others of physical aliments (e.i. Terezi's blindness), but she can also heal fate itself, creating fortune for an otherwise doomed timeline...

...or so she claims. Aranea became so absorbed with her hubris does she fail to be careful, being so reliant on her luck to steer her towards her goal that her megalomania ended in a rather, dark end. She falls into an abyss (literally is up for interpretation) and is absorbed in irrelevancy. [s]GAME OVER is the last time we see her play any significant role. Something that echoes a eerily familiar scene

Our next fellow Light-bound is our darling Rose Lalonde.

Though most perceive her character as the one who Knows it All, Rose Lalonde's role within the entirety of the narrative is to guide others towards a path with the most fortuitous outcomes, but rather than controlling them, she can guide others to take the action's necessary to put them on the best possible path for them to take. An advisor of sorts.

However, this doesn't necessarily mean victory. Her powers not only assist a single person, but they also assist the timeline as a whole. Whatever she needs to do to reach best possible fate for her friends, she will do it. Even if it means releasing a star and dying within its flares.

Which brings up an interesting parallel between her and Aventurine: both were willing to sacrifice themselves if it meant tearing down the walls that held a microcosm of their reality.

For Rose, the game was meant to be unwinnable. Thus she retaliates by breaking the game in any ways she could before concluding that blowing up the green sun is the best path of action .

For Aventurine, it's almost the same thing. But instead of desperately trying to burn down all of reality however, he wants to tear at the threads that make up the facade that is Penacony, and The Family along with it; to bring attention to the murders that they're covering up.

He wants to prove that death in this dreamscape is possible, and that Penacony is not all what it seems.

It's also worth noting that seeking evidence, even at the risk of putting himself in grave danger with powers higher than him, is also a characteristic of being a Light-bound.

These endeavors both result in their "deaths". In a sense, both have also ascended: Rose became a god and Aventurine has got a newfound reason to live.

Black Hole, Green Sun.

But I digress

Let's turn towards the last light-bound: Vriska Serket!

Both he and this Thief of Light have been known throughout their respective fandoms as gamblers. They even appear to wield dice as their weapons!

Aventurine and Vriska both have been show to be able to manipulate any outcomes to break in their favor. However, where luck comes to Aventurine naturally, Vriska has to take it.

Both also have been plagued streaks of luck that are a detriment to their lives. One of the first things the read learns about Vriska in her proper introduction is the fact that she has a habit that accumulates bad luck

For Aventurine though, well...

Aventurine's life is defined by his gratuitous fortune, ever since he's birth he's been blessed with it. Hailing from a desert land in which I can assume has little to shelter its inhabitants from the harsh heat, the moment Aventurine was born however, rain had come upon them. Perhaps the first time in a long time.

Being blessed by their deity, it's natural that one can assume that his good luck would lead him towards great things later in life. Perhaps he could've used it to bring his clan some fortune to improve their quality of life.

And he does! Somewhat. Only once: His sister's necklace was stolen by a couple of Katicans and through his luck, little Kakavasha was able to win a game and bring the necklace back

That should've be the beginning of a wide lucky streak for Aventurine, good thing after good thing happening throughout his life is what fate should have in store for him, right?

To him, to be lucky isn't always a good thing, especially if you have a lot of it.

Let's talk about his class, the Maid.

The story of a Maid begins with them having an overwhelming amount of their aspect, so much so that it seems to permeate every facet of their life. It engulfs them to the point that it snuffs out the Maid's true sens of self. In other words, they're a servant to their aspect.

Maid of Time Aradia Megido was so engulfed by death and destruction that by the time the reader is introduced to her, she's already dead. Even before that, voices of the dead speak into her mind and constantly tell her what to do.

Maid of Space Porrim and Maid of Life Jane have similar troubles with their aspect as they're forced to be in a predetermined position that they're placed in seemingly the moment they were born. For Porrim, it was to assist the troll's progenitor, the Mother Grub. For Jane, it was her position as Heiress to a baking company her grandmother created.

For Aventurine, it's his blessing that makes him extremely lucky, yet it pushes him into isolation.

When his clan was slaughtered, he was the sole survivor of their massacre. When he was thrown into a brawl with other slaves, he was the sole survivor of that fight.

When he killed his master, he manages to not only keep his life but also to rise far above the ranks from his status as a slave. A high-stakes gamble that he should've lost. Curious that he's stationed on a planet that used to be a prison.

When his luck is noticed, he becomes a servant to whoever is above him. As long as his luck benefits others, he can keep his life. He creates luck, not just for others, but for his own survival too. He’s quite literally made of it. He even gives you buffs during his boss fight if you manage to roll higher than him, and that still plays to his schemes. We’ll talk about that later however.

Aventurine is trapped in a cycle of survival. His luck is what keeps him alive but at what price? Aventurine doesn't see a reason to live nor does he actively seek to die, he just keeps gambling and gambling, winning and winning. A slave to his fortune.

So what can he do? Is he bound to forever run in cycles while his blessing tugs him around like a leash?

A Maid's role is to not only create, but to repair as well. To overcome their aspect and make it theirs to wield.

Let's start off on the surface: there's a murder mystery in Penacony and the Family is diverting attention away from it, to the extent that it never seemed like the victims died. Besides, there is no death in Penacony.

Aventurine seeks to rectify that. Bring light towards the truth of not only the murders, but Penacony as a whole.

But let’s look a little deeper, after all it’s not attention that he has a problem with, it’s his fortune. How does one find a way to overcome good luck? To overcome a blessing?

To set down the path where the best possible outcome is to fail.

The climax of the 2.1 Trailblaze quest has the Trailblazer and the Astral Express Crew face off against Aventurine under the guise of getting the Trailblazer to destroy all of Penacony, when in reality:

It’s bait. It’s all a farce to get himself killed. And with his luck, he was able to provoke Archeron to draw her blade and make him the third death in Penacony. The reason why he activates your ultimate if you roll a higher number than him in is boss fight? It can be said that he’s a fair man, but it could also mean that he’ll be brought closer to being defeated the higher you roll.

By being killed, it’ll be hard to deny that death does happen within the dreamscape and everyone is unable to look away and is now forced to come to terms with that fact.

Aventurine managed to break the cycle, he had lost because he made it so. Overcoming the curse that was his luck by making defeat the most fortuitous path he could take.

…So, what now? There’s not much to his story left now that he’s dead.

Well… not quite. Aventurine isn’t actually dead.

This is where things start to turn speculative, but bear with me here.

As alluded to before, Aventurine’s finale mirrors the ends of both Aranea and Rose. One falls into nothingness and obscurity while the other rises anew. Who’s to say that this is just Star Rail’s version of a legendary nap? Right after he conquers his good luck streak that adds in the unveiling of the truth of Penacony, a fitting parallel to completing SBURB’s land quest, Aventurine enacts the ultimate sacrifice and ascends.

Though ascension in Homestuck is a flashy and a celebrated matter, Aventurine’s is more of a realization.

His entire life was wrought with death, him just being lucky to have his be continuously delayed. Fate has toyed with him and thus sees that no matter what he does, he just keeps living. So within the nothingness, he asks the emanator of nothingness this question:

To which, she replies:

Both she and Aventurine know that there is more to life than just simply being alive. She has more to live for and so does Aventurine.

Acheron alludes to his reawakening, telling him that he has much more to do.

However, it is only when our Maid of Light is finally given some light himself does he make the resolve to stride forward:

Aventurine is a Maid of Light that has been through so many hardships that ironically were given through his deity’s blessing: his luck. Yet, it’s that same blessing that kept him toiling through his life until his finale, where he finally found the strength to use it for his own downfall. With his arc seemingly finished and currently in limbo, there are still many things that Kakvasha needs to do. He’s not done living.

And this time, he won’t be shackled by the light that bounded him for so long. No more weighted dice.

And if we ever see him again (he has to. At the time of writing this, he’s set to release in 3 days), maybe there will be something new about him.

Maybe one day we’ll get a Nihility Aventurine down the line too.

#godtiers #homestuck #classpect #not an ask #honkai star rail #hsr aventurine #hsr #light aspect #maid class #Maid of light #aventurine honkai star rail #aventurine #hsr dr ratio

[destinysbounty]

GASP you have an “The Island” rewrite idea? TELL US EVERYTHING—

The Ninjago comics have some great ideas of other things that could have happened (like a boat race over lightning waters, a motorcycle escape from baby dragons, more on Misako’s pre-special adventures on the Island, etc.) but I’m so curious about your rewrite ideas :D

When we first got the trailer for The Island, I lowkey thought they were gonna take the "Misako goes missing and Lloyd tries to find her" premise and use it to at least briefly touch on their relationship. Which I was...cautiously optimistic for. Lord knows how badly Misako needs an actual character arc.

So that's the core of what I'd do with an Island rewrite. Use that plotline the facilitate a narrative about the past complications of their relationship, as well as Lloyd's fear of being abandoned/left alone.

For a long time, I've had this scene idea in my brain of Misako and Lloyd being lost in a labyrinthine cave full of strange glowing stone, and she explains that the reason she'd been seeking out the island is because of rumors that this very cave had the power to reveal secret information. However, the danger of the cave is that few people are ever able to leave it alive, as it traps most who enter. She reluctantly hoped the cave could tell her where she went wrong, what she did wrong - she did everything she could to prevent the Final Battle, but it happened anyway. She wanted to know if there was anything at all that she could've done to change that, or if her family was doomed from the start. This is also why Wu joined her for this expedition - he wanted those answers too.

As they walk through the cave in search of a way out, Lloyd asks more about her motives: how she knew he was the Green Ninja, why she left Lloyd at Darkleys of all places, and most importantly why she never came back for him even to visit. She explains herself, with the stones and stalagmites of the cave glowing as they reflect memories from her past. And finally, they have a little bit of closure from this conversation. It is then that they learn the cave only lets you leave once you have accepted the truth of the information you sought, hence why so few people ever escape - most people cant reconcile the harsh truths this cave confronts them with. Misako accepts that there was nothing she could have done to prevent destiny and Lloyd works through some of his abandonment issues, prompting the cave to set them free so they can go join the rest of their friends in the big climactic battle.

Idk. I may also include a scene like that in another fic or something. We'll see, I guess.

Also, I'd probably change the uh. Troublingly stereotypical human sacrifice depictions for the Keepers. And also just like, give Mamatus more of an actual character and personality. Maybe the islanders arent the villains but allies! Perhaps the rewrite focuses more so on Ronin as an antagonist - while also providing more in-character rationalization for his actions. Because while I do like the idea of Ronin as a villain, it feels a bit odd to have him go from a morally grey ally who at least sympathizes with the ninja even when he's not on their side, to a generically roguish villain. Let's dive into what prompted him to pursue such a high-scale crime!

Also, the keepers and Wojira talk may also prompt more discussion about some creation mythology and lore, Wojira's past and reign of terror before the FSM and Nyad came along, to really hammer in why they're so afraid of her. This would add some more setup for Seabound, as well as preemptively establish Wojira as a truly terrifying threat.

I can't say I have a thorough outline for what exactly the rewrite would look like, mostly just a few loose ideas here and there, but that's the general gist of what I've got so far!

#ninjago #ninjago the island #destiny post

[warsamongthestars]

ON CHIPS AND CROSSES

Crosshair's episodes are always a treat.

But, they're under cut by one of the largest issues with the Bad Batch Show, and that's the Chip.

( Warning, we're about to hit hard on some heavy shit. Reader discretion is advised. )

The Inhibitor Chip already has a very important slot in Star Wars lore. Its the very reason for Order 66 and the massacre of the Jedi, one of the largest backstory elements of the OG Trilogy, and the end result of the Prequels.

It was discovered by the character "Fives", who, introduced in Season 1, was one of the biggest Audience Surrogate Characters for the Clones' side of the War--even outpacing Captain Rex in this case. Both him and Echo.

( So it makes Thematic sense to have Echo as a main character in a Clonecentric Show, because he is an Audience Surrogate Character, and the only surviving one out of the Clone Wars Show--which makes his character neglect all that much more worse in TBB )

As something like the Inhibitor Chip does not exist in real life, there are several elements of imaginative fiction and real life that come into play with its concept.

Brain Tumor (Real Life)

Altered State of Consciousness caused by External Factors (Real Life)

Non-consentual substance-induction which causes Consciousness / Behavior alteration (Also known as "Being Drugged") (Real Life)

Mind Control (Fiction)

Possession by Exterior Force (Fiction)

Possession by Interior Force (Fiction)

Any kind of fucking Possession that involves overriding consciousness (Fiction)

Most of these elements, especially the Real Life ones, already put a character under that situation that clearly states "cannot be responsible for judgement calls" / "is not of sound mind".

The prior show, The Clone Wars, took steps to show and explain the chip and what it does.

It's entire purpose, narrative-wise, was to avoid the situation of "The Clone Troopers were complacent in Genocide". As well as the induced plothole that such a circumstance would cause. Because the Clone Troopers were being developed as individuals, who merely in poor circumstances and making the best of it (as real people tend to do), as opposed to indoctrinated disposable soldiers who were little better than Stormtroopers.

( Even my younger self pointed out to Revenge of the Sith and went "Hang on, I thought they were friends! It must be a Darkside Trick that caused these friends to do that! All the Anime Says So!" )

So.

You have this Brain Tumor that drastically alters the behavior of someone, and in this case, its a specifically-programmed tumor that ensures certain behaviors.

The Bad Batch Show even walks us through the scene. It does so clumsily, because it seems to never want to have any kind of serious discussions ever, but it still takes the steps to do so.

And one of those steps is Enhancing the "programming" of one Crosshair's chip.

It "grew".

I don't know about anyone else, but this scene is kind of an odd Grinch moment, where his "tumor" grew "Three fucking sizes that day". Life Day is gods damn Doomed.

Then, we get to spend the season without Crosshair.

Then the moment we meet Crosshair again, reunited (and it feels so fucked up), he says that the Chip was removed, and refuses to elaborate how, why, and implies that all he did was his own choices.

... even though, as I pointed out above, that is not the case. The very show itself even makes it a point that its not only not the case--but that Crosshair got the Super Tumor instead.

But since then, the show has made it a point to forgive every Clone but Crosshair, and then ignores the fact that it gave Crosshair the super tumor, something that is in recording, something that I have clearly caught a part of in picture--and instead, places all of Crosshair's actions on himself, and even Rides an Arc of "Redemption" for his "judgement".

( Even though, the act of removing a Super Tumor in this case, would still have the Super attached. If you Super Something in a story, that means you have to take the extra steps to handle the Super part in order to keep relevance and impact. )

It has even ignored the one person that is, thematically and narratively, related to a story like this--Echo, who has had the Most Extreme Variant of this theme (from fictional cyborgification to the real life "non-consensual body alteration").

Whatever the hell the Bad Batch Show is doing and has done, it has done it damnedest to utterly destroy any impact, to the cost of the characters, the story, the significance, their legacy, and more.

#star wars #star wars the clone wars #star wars the bad batch #the clone wars #the bad batch #the inhibitor chip #analysis

[theredhairedmonkey]

I’m curious on your thoughts I’ve seen from a certain side of the tdp fandom. The idea that Callum hasn’t lived up to his duty as Ezran’s protector. (This being what was in narrows letter) and eventually they’ll have a big fight stemming from this. Personally I’m not against seeing Ezran and Callum have a moment where they’re at odds..but I don’t like this narrative that callum hasn’t been there for Ezran or something …thoughts?

I'm generally with you, nonny. Not opposed in principle to Ezran and Callum having a disagreement, but the way that this headcanon seems to come seems to not stand much against scrutiny.

The version I've heard is that either Callum isn't fulfilling his duties as a protector, or that Ezran merely feels/thinks that Callum hasn't been fulfilling his duties as a protector. Doesn't matter much since this is wrong on both counts.

I noticed on reddit someone who saw 6x01 elaborating on their dynamic, and it's quite clear they're a unit even when they don't agree on everything.

"they are an actual team" // "they are communicating effectively"

We have 5 seasons +1 episode of show, and there is not a single scene - not a one - where Ezran is suggesting that he even thinks that Callum is falling short of his duties.

As for whether post-timeskip Callum is fulfilling his duties as Ezran's protector? Here are the receipts:

So in short no, Ezran doesn't think Callum is failing in his duties, nor is Callum actually failing in that regard. Nor do I think (as has also come up with this argument) that Runaan is going to wind up being a sticking point between them - remember, Callum really doesn't like Runaan. At all. But he doesn't have to like him in order to think that he doesn't deserve to be trapped for all eternity in a coin (and even then he also seems to specify that he's doing this for Rayla's parents, not Rayla's family). Now, does anyone seriously think that Ezran - moral paragon Ezran - is going to vehemently disagree with that sentiment? Even in (justifiable) anger, Ezran has never been that pointlessly cruel, which really shows how far this headcanon has to reach.

And that leads to another question: where are all of these "angsty" headcanons coming from? Because this is like headcanon #10 that is centered entirely on the perception or implication that Callum is being incredibly shitty to everyone except Rayla. First there as "Callum doesn't return to Katolis" Then "Callum dooms the world for Rayla." Then "Callum only cares about his inner circle" and "Harrow, Soren, and Amaya somehow aren't in his inner circle" and "Ezran is barely in Callum's inner circle."

In totality, this reads less like a desire for some angst and more like a really pointed depiction of Callum as being nothing more or less than an extension of whatever Rayla wants or needs.

So whichever side of the tdp fandom these headcanons are coming from, it's pretty clear what they want, and it's not just angst...

#tdp #the dragon prince #callum #ezran #rayla #rayllum

[imminentinertia]

I may have some feelings and possibly some actual thoughts about Hedwig and the Angry Inch's appearance in The Eighth Sense. Under a readmore because of spoilers - for both.

So I'm old enough to have seen HatAI in a cinema in 2002, and it's a very important film to me. It's an iconic queer film classic by now (and an iconic queer musical classic), but it's also a cult film and certainly not something I expect everyone to know about.

My first reaction to the Hedwig person scenes in T8S was something like "oh my fucking GOD they're doing HEDWIG I love Inu and Werner so fucking much, but oh, that's an odd thing to do, making Ji Hyun and Ae Ri be that dismissive to Hedwig person?".

Nothing in a show is accidental or random, certainly not full scenes such as these, and I think there are a couple of ways referring to HatAI in T8S* could go.

Keep in mind that I have no idea if it can be expected that a Korean audience knows HatAI, but then again, it's obvious that Inu Baek and Werner du Plessis intended T8S for an international audience as well as a domestic one. HatAI is still not a reference I'd expect the international target audience of a Korean romance between two students to get.

Your other half is within yourself

The central theme in HatAI is Hedwig's search for their** other half. That is all ye olde Plato's soulmate theory about Zeus splitting each human into two. However, Hedwig's conclusion is that your other half is within yourself (on a number of levels, and sometimes, as with Hedwig's fluctuating gender expression, it's a bit on the nose. It's still a wonderful film). The film ends with Hedwig/Hansel walking away, alone, naked, after a scene that is both unsettling and forgiving.

The Hedwig person in T8S gets a walking away alone scene too, although fully dressed, after an also rather unsettling but not forgiving scene where Ji Hyun and Ae Ri are dismissive and a bit rude - perhaps partly because since almost dying, Ji Hyun has run out of fucks to give about anything much, perhaps partly because the odd almost-pass the Hedwig person makes at Ji Hyun needs to be turned down for Hedwig to fit their own story.

And possibly Ji Hyun and Ae Ri, for a narrative point to be made later, must be condescending in these scenes, making fun of the Hedwig person's admittedly over the top presentation.

Either way, going down the "your other half is within yourself" path would show some finding strength in oneself (as Ji Hyun does all along, and perhaps Jae Won needs to learn?) may not hand over a happy ending in the sense that Ji Hyun and Jae Won live happily ever after.

Deny me and be doomed

This quote is often interpreted to mean that Hedwig/Hansel can't deny themselves - the person they were meant to be, up until their life really went off course. It can also be interpreted as Hedwig's right to be seen, to be acknowledged by their surroundings, to not be ignored.

So who must not be denied in T8S? Possibly Ji Hyun, who will have Jae Won and who's come out to his friends and who will not let anything get in his way anymore. Possibly the Hedwig person will resurface to teach them a lesson about this or pay Ji Hyun and Ae Ri back, like Eskild schools Isak about his homophobia in SKAM.

Possibly it's a lesson Ji Hyun is supposed to bring to Jae Won, for him to stop denying himself and tear himself loose from the trappings of the chaebol, the rigid hierarchy and the conservatism.

Going after the being seen point in HatAI might make for a bigger chance of a happy ending/Ji Hyun and Jae Won living happily ever after, as they could see each other - without being Plato's two halves of a whole.

I don't have any answers and I'm always reluctant to analyse too much until the very end, but I needed to get some thoughts about Hedwig and The Eighth Sense off my chest. Also I'm absolutely certain I've forgotten lots of points from earlier episodes that need to be tied in with this.

(On another T8S topic, the overly bright cinematography and disjointed narrative in episode 6 made sense to me after watching episode 7 - I believe Jae Won was the narrator, he definitely wasn't in the best of shapes, and he twisted and glossed over events and shoved the aftermath of the accident away, as it was represented only by him sitting alone on the beach. Also the music-less intro to episode 7 was so claustrophobic I nearly screamed.

Also do we really need to do coming out to your mate scenes that explicitly accepting. I found that a little jarring, I'd expect Joon Pyo to jump rather more around in the salad.

Also also that was an incredibly satisfying punch, Jae Won.)

*Sorry if the acronyms are annoying, but there are only so many times a person can stand to write or read Hedwig and the Angry Inch and The Eighth Sense.

**Stephen Trask, one of the creators of HatAI, refers to Hedwig as they these days, so I do as well.

#the eight sense spoilers #hedwig and the angry inch in popular culture #the eighth sense

[stylinsoncity]

I just finished rewatching normal people and i idk if uve watched it but it got me curious Have u ever considered writing a fic where hl are you”doomed by the narrative”?

i mean i think louis in caya was "doomed by the narrative," but i just couldn't follow that narrative through. (originally the ending i considered was darker and didn't include reconciliation.)

personally, i don't enjoy narrative arcs where the person is ultimately unable to redeem themselves. i don't enjoy writing it and i don't totally enjoy reading it.

even with normal people, as much as i would recommend that book, there's a part of me that isn't wholly satisfied by the ending and can't appreciate it fully.

it's so much more fulfilling for me to write a story where a person has all odds against them, but they're still able to learn and evolve, and find a way to some sort of salvation.

[ragnarssons]

idk if is the ones who did the game that don't know how science work or if we are supposed to think the fireflies are callous and ignorant of it, but killing Ellie would be stupid in terms of studying a cure, even if they don't have ethic and moral qualms, they should do every test possible with her alive. even if the supposed cure is in her brain, the chance of it helping after dead would be minimal.

THIS ASK AND THE ANSWER FOLLOWING CONTAIN SPOILERS FROM THE GAME: VIEWERS OF THE SHOW SCROLL OVER OR PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK OF BEING SPOILED I had written a whole ass rant with this ask but then TUMBLR decided to be stupid and do some shit and now I'm done so. Yes, you're right anon. Actually, through the whole first game as Joel you find several pages of researches from the Fireflies, PROVING to you that their researches are bullshit and that they already had SEVERAL opportunities to do researches on immune children... that all died. Yup, they killed dozens of kids but I mean, they're the sweet baby angels saving the world. *side eyes at TLOU2* To me, it always seemed in the first game, that there were points, obvious points that you were picking up, showing you that The Fireflies, were basically delulu people with a God Complex bigger than their big fat heads, justifying the murder of children behind a "we will save the world/we will find a cuuuure" promise that never went anywhere. That was the complexity of the first game, how neither The Fireflies nor Joel were completely right, nor wrong. How neither of them completely doomed the world, neither of them was here to save it and that's it. That was it, how ultimately, the narrative brought you back to the small bottled, HUMAN, relationship of Joel and Ellie. Because at the end of the day, do you save a world that's been doomed for 20 years? How do you do that when it's gone to shit so hard? And maybe you can't save humanity when you've lost touch with it so much, that you justify murdering children to "get a cure" that you haven't found in years and years of "research" because you keep repeating the same mistakes (ie: literally killing your subjects). And you know, the show kinda touches upon that, but not enough, to me. I mean, we spent the whole beginning of the show, with scientists and experts of fungus infections with (at the time) the last of the last scientifical equipments possible, telling us that there is no cure. But The Fireflies in their mom's basement will find a cure? Yah. Ok. It always seemed so stupid to me and odd that they killed kids like that, "unique" immune children and went back to "welp let's hope we'll find another one! *shrugs*" once they failed, that it was OBVIOUS that The Fireflies were wrong and really not the good moral choice when it came to Ellie's future (and bigger than that, the world's future). Literally I'm rewatching The Mandalorian, and even The Empire doesn't kill Grogu because they want to experiment on him. We live in a society where The Empire from Star Wars is better at science than the freaking "saviors of the universe" Fireflies. But then TLOU2 happened, retconning once again the story, with all and mighty Abby having so much faith in her father that it twists the narrative and the gamers' perception, and everyone ended up being like "Joel doomed the wooooorld"-... when nope. Not at all. If you end TLOU1 with idk, average 5% faith in The Fireflies finding a cure, then you're a hardcore believer. But TLOU2 completely erases that complexity, because it erases the grey morality of what The Fireflies were doing, putting all faults on Joel saving Ellie, and that's it (because even Ellie blames Joel). Did I already say that I hate TLOU2? For so many reasons.

#answered #anonymous #tlou spoilers #tlou2 spoilers #anti tlou2

[fictionadventurer]

Rapid-fire thoughts about Book IV of The Two Towers:

Frodo is extremely lucky that Gollum showed up, because how on Middle Earth did he plan on getting to Mount Doom without him? He had no clue what kind of terrain he was going into. No map. No guide. Going it alone is noble and all, but he really did not have a viable plan for making it work.

There's something to explore in the fact that Sam and Gollum both call Frodo "Master." They butt heads at least partly because they're in similar roles. Sam is the faithful servant and Gollum the treacherous one.

I really appreciate that after three extremely bleak chapters in hellish landscapes, Tolkien gives us an entire chapter of "They went to a slightly wrecked but mostly lovely landscape, and Sam looked at all the flowers and cooked a nice meal."

Forever mad that the movies left out Ithilien. That is a great setting. There is a hideaway behind a waterfall looking out to the sunset! So much cinematic potential wasted.

It's interesting to me that Faramir is reliably described as "grave", while also being shown smiling and joking a lot. It's kind of an odd sense of humor, too. ("The ring has come to me with a host of Gondor at my command" is grimly funny from his POV, but saying all that to Sam and Frodo is still pretty mean.)

There's also something interesting in Sam and Faramir's dynamic. Faramir's the character who most often treats Sam as a servant, making a big deal about calling Frodo his master. He scolds him and kind of pokes fun at him. But there's also a lot of respect. ("The Shire must be a peaceful place where gardeners are held in high esteem.") Maybe it's to do with the fact that they're both servants who are happy to serve and have no ambitions to attain higher rank.

I can see why Tolkien struggled with the ideas of portraying orcs as totally evil. On a conceptual level it can work, but portraying them as characters in a narrative gives them humanity. You can believe that something like Shelob is totally evil and needs slaying. But orcs are just guys. They're capable of rational speech. They hold conversations and make plans for the future. Listening to them talk among themselves is kind of like listening to workers stuck under a tough boss. Yeah, they're okay with horrible things, but they're also just trying to get by. It's hard to see them as completely evil when there's a possibility that they're being misled by a greater evil the way that plenty of other races are.

Both Fellowship and Two Towers end with a betrayal that splinters the group. Gollum and Boromir as parallels as people who both covet the ring?

I really fell in love with Frodo as a character in this book. Right from the beginning, the way he treats Gollum has a lot of parallels with how Gandalf treated Saruman and Pippin in the last book. He's patient and wise and commanding but still very fallible.

Catholic Tolkien experience is getting to the scene where Sam and Frodo call upon Galadriel, and it's absolutely impossible not to see parallels to calling for the Blessed Virgin's intercession.

And there's a ton of Christ imagery. The ring as the cross. His apparent death leaving his follower unsure of what to do next. Sam's sort of the loyal disciple who follows him to his death, and sort of the unfaithful one who leaves him (though in this case he's just trying to do his best when he truly believes Frodo is dead and he's got to carry on the quest.)

This book ends upon a cliffhanger. Is this where the "ending book 2 of the trilogy on a cliffhanger" trend started?

#tolkien #lord of the rings #the two towers

[infinitelystrangemachinex]

9 people you'd like to get to know better!

Thanks for the tag @ourspecial ❤❤❤

three ships: Obi/Shirayuki, AnS. Still the all-time favorite because it's been over a decade and they're STILL the b pairing and they're STILL the superior pairing and I will just wait here patiently while the story unfolds. But mostly because I found so many friends through this pairing! SO MANY

Mel/Viktor, Arcane. This is my new favorite ship and it's definitely a reflection of some of the ways my tastes have changed. I love chessmaster characters like Mel and Viktor is so Nikola Tesla coded I was obsessed instantly, and even though I love odd-couple pairings, the more I write them, the less mismatched they seem?? I love coming up with something out of nothing for this pairing and challenging myself by sticking as close to their canon characterizations as possible, and realizing how MUCH there is I want to explore. I like the opposite-but-the-same feeling of the ship and how their genius minds clash but also work together. Also writing their dialogue is EXTREMELY fun, to the point that it's hard to make them shut up, and that's always an amazing sign

Rhaenyra/Alicent, House of the Dragon. I don't write for them and I don't think I'll ever write for anything ASOIAF adjacent, but their relationship has been my favorite thing about HotD as an adaption compared to its source material. And we all know how I get when the ship is doomed by the narrative :)))

first ship: First one I can remember is Zutara, which truly paved the way for my shipping habits later on

last song: "Sunday" by Les Friction, an epic/cinematic rock group who always understand the assignment

last film: Across the Spiderverse I think? It was a while ago now though

currently reading: Lirael by Garth Nix - I'm really enjoying it, I'm just being super slow with reading right now

currently consuming: yogurt with bran

currently craving: a life outside of my job ughughugh

Tagging: @onedivinemisfit, @sabraeal, @claudeng80, @hextechery, @bubblesthemonsterartist, @kaedix, @sepalina, @lusakina, @itspotatobee

#ask me #i can scream about melvik forever lol

[queerxqueen]

What is your favorite Byler scene? For me it's not really a scene, but more of a little detail in a scene. It's in S3 when Lucas is talking about the new Coke and how it's so amazing, and Will and Mike are sitting so close to eachother. Not to mention I'm pretty sure they're sitting in front of frozen fruits too. But, yea, what's your favorite?

Lol, I've gotten a few "What's your favorite byler scene?" and I love that!

Obviously, crazy together is iconic and essential and establishes the ship but. The rain fight scene in s3 is classic. But I will stand by the s4 "Friends. Best friends." "Cool." "Cool." scene as my favorite Byler scene because that, for me, was the moment I realized they were doing this for real. Like, Mike blatantly flirting? It clicked together the pieces of why Mike was acting so odd, why they would make Will pine for Mike if it was doomed, etc. It was my personal oh moment where it all came together, as a real canon option. Then I wrote my whole narrative arc essay and plunged fully into Byler Tumblr hell.

No updates????!?!?! Sigh.

#byler #anon

[co-mixed]

Daredevil by Charles Soule

Let’s start with the wow. The same wow that comes after finishing a great run by a great writing team. Charles Soule and various artists alongside him took the several times reimagined, arguably the darkest hero of Marvel and gave him an entirely new life. Let there be spoilers.

Bottoms up

I want to immediately talk about the end of this run. It's a dream sequence, which is a notoriously difficult trope to pull off. Most people will agree that gotcha! dream sequences cheapen their own effect. But I can't say that the resolution felt cheap here. Despite watching it unfold throughout several issues, it was everything that Matt had ever wanted. From turning imaginary family real to having the final dramatic night with Elektra, to heroes assembling to take down Kingpin. It was so epic it was doomed to be a fantasy. 

But none of that would've happened had it not been for the previous events. The run starts with Daredevil in black, which is never a good sign for a hero. And don't for a second think that no one makes a joke about that. Spider-Man is first in line. But it's not only the costume that's different: the whole public identity cat is back in the bag. To be frank, it gets a bit confusing. So much so that I had to go back and recheck reading guides, to make sure I didn't miss a special where Daredevil makes a deal with Mephisto. He doesn't, in fact, when he gets the opportunity, he walks away. Good for him, I suppose. 

It takes 20 issues of city and overseas adventures to finally find out how and when he pulls off the restoration of the status quo. It's a pretty enjoyable arc for which the narrative style and the colors of Waid’s run make a temporary comeback. 

Status quo

But back to the now, to the beginning: Daredevil has his own Robin, a kid called Blindspot who wants to protect Chinatown like Daredevil does in Hell's Kitchen. The only one who knows Matt is Daredevil is Foggy and he's so salty about that, they're almost on the outs.

Kirsten had joined the extensive group of exes (I have a mental list of them so far) and a shorter list of exes who got away alive. Oh, and Matt was back in New York. It's been way too odd to see him in San Francisco. If the X-Men could thrive there, Matt Murdock definitely belongs in NYC. 

Connections

Let's start with the romantic life. There is none. Charles Soule manages to tackle every other aspect of Matt’s life, even religion. But he has no romantic partner for the duration of this run. Which means no woman has to suffer and die unnecessarily. Yay. 

Well... if you don't think too hard about their conscience.

And you know, Matt's inability to maintain a relationship is probably 30% of the fun in his books. Still, Soule manages to deliver a rich dynamic narrative without dragging Matt’s partners through hell. 

Matt is not left without a connection though, despite everyone forgetting who he is, he gets a partner and an apprentice. Now of course this kid, Blindspot, gets the short end of the stick. He is blinded by Muse, who is a new villain on the block. Gotta say he’s a pretty decent villain too. A very Batman villain, I want to say. Since he goes all out with his creepiness and finds a BS pseudo-philosophical explanation for his sick hobby. That always makes me think of Bats because who else has a rogues gallery so twisted? But like I keep saying, the characters share a lot of common features so it's only fair their villains do as well. 

Muse, in fact, shows up twice and both times cracks sickness up to 11, even throwing in a little social message here and there. 

He serves as both Daredevil villain and Blindspot's re-origin story. Although I can't exactly say I’m happy with where Blindspot ended the run. He had potential and he had a struggle with darkness which surely could be used better anywhere other than with a group of flying nuns fighting priests.

Before that, of course, Matt has to go to China and fight the Beast. Why not? 

The why we fight

When he comes back though, that's when everything hits the fan and brings the arc that to me holds this whole run together. Wilson Fisk becomes the mayor of New York. And that, to me, is it. The why we fight of it all. A raging obsessive and violent maniac becoming a recognized public authority figure. I knew right then and there that no matter what Matt or Daredevil tries, he is screwed. And how beautifully it's delivered: it's not just that Fisk grabbed a position of power, it's that people showed up to vote for him. They bought and believed his message. And no one stepped in. He twisted the system and he used it to grab more influence. He sketched an idea of an enemy and united people against it. And yes, he rigged the election but in the end, we find out he didn't have to. Because fear and hate, they always work, don't they? 

There were two moments when I felt this book bleeding realism. 

The first one is when Daredevil mistakenly says he has faith in the people of New York. He believes they know what Fisk is and they can't support him. That's a lie. Or wishful thinking. Either way, they don't. And they don't come to his rescue as he is declared public enemy number one. Even the cops he’s helped so many times, they are in fact the first to pick up tasers and advanced sound systems to join the hunt. 

The second moment is Matt's paralegal at the D.A. office, Ellen, saying she supports Fisk’s ideas since Spider-Man destroyed her car once. Well maybe not just that but you get where I’m going with this. It's always the seemingly small things. And it's always the unexpected people. Her reluctance to respond when Matt asked her who she voted for, it was louder than a poster at a rally and if you have experience fighting the good fight, you feel it like a bucket of ice water. Of course, Matt gets to shake it off and go swinging through the city. You don't, so you're left with the remaining issues of the run.

Talk to The Hand

The power struggle goes on and on, neither Matt Murdock nor Daredevil gets a win until Fisk is shot full of The Hand’s arrows, and due to a lucky break, Matt becomes the mayor. Everything works out in a questionable arc that I don't want to focus on too much. I'm gonna say, however, that “I can't see the light so I will be the light” is a hell of a powerful phrase. With this phrase, Soule does to the reader what Daredevil is supposed to do. The whole reason for his endless misfortunes, and battles, and losses: inspiration.

This is, actually, the message of this run. Not guilt, not responsibility. Inspiration. At one point, Daredevil mentions that people have to fight for themselves too. And maybe the fact that people hear that is why he believes in New York. 

This optimism under the darkest of circumstances is another thing that continues Waid’s narrative. Because the tone, that returns to a more familiar Miller-inspired brooding nature. If you ask me, that's good. That's where Daredevil functions best. He’s not great at wisecracking, he's not Spider-Man. He has to remain intense and on guard.

Let's talk colors.

Several artists work on the run and each one brings a different look. Keep in mind, that this run was happening at the same time as the Netflix show. So yes, at some point characters began to look a little too much like the actors from the show. Which isn't bad, just curious. Either way, all styles worked in their own way. 

But my personal favorite was the arrival of Phil Noto. It took his mastery to deliver the final blow, the final massive arc that might have been meaningless in a wider sense but did bring a fat bouquet of emotions.

There were many moments throughout Soule’s run when I laughed and praised his writing. Even if the stories didn't always go where I’d like them to, it was never dull. From taking a case to the Supreme Court (and delivering a hell of an argument splash page) to the last words “And I am not afraid,” this series remained surprising and moving. 

#marvel #marvel comics #comics #comic books #marvel universe #long reads #comic book review #spoilers #daredevil #matt murdock

[original-character-championship]

Bracket C Round 1

Poll 7

James & Eloise  - Lise (@shortsightedmoon) vs. Kacey Kline (@rainbow-skies)

141. James & Eloise  - Lise (@shortsightedmoon)

They/Them & She/He

James and Lise should win because The Horrors have decided that they are the most specialest meow meows and simply will not leave either of them alone. They're just a regular couple trying to live their lives but the Atrocities won't let them. They have a Bad Time and eventually both die, but not before losing themselves completely and warping beyond both the other’s and their own recognition. James and Lise are the Horrors’ blorbos, and they can be YOUR blorbos too! Vote them today, and maybe they’ll see tomorrow!

James is a thin white person with long dark hair, glasses, and really apparent eyebags

Lise is a femme white person with curly, strawberry-blonde pigtails, and black lipstick

142. Kacey Kline (@rainbow-skies)

She/Her

She’s a writer and a violin player. She’s doomed by the narrative but also by herself. She’s even a lesbian. What more could you want in a character?

She’s a short 17-year-old girl with pale skin, long, curly blonde hair, and light blue eyes. She usually wears pastel colored clothing. When she becomes a ghost in the course of the story, her head hangs at an odd angle where her neck was broken.

#oc championship #tournament poll #bracket c #round 1 #141 James & Eloise #142 Kacey Kline

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

ohohoho. how is louis like a more sane edward??? tht sounds hilarious and something worth of discussion!!! thank you very much for all of your posts

Anon's referring to this post.

Specifically, anon means Louis Pointe du Lac from Interview with a Vampire.

Well, this will be an intresting ride.

The Romantic Nature

Both Edward and Louis are romantics.

When Edward falls for Bella, he has all sorts of notions about how this a grand love, the greatest love in his life, how he'll nobly commit suicide when she inevitably dies, how he wants to court her as a mortal would, etc.

In every breath he utters, Edward is all about the imagery, the grand meaning of things, with himself as a central character in this saga. Edward doesn't necessarily strive to be extraordinary, but it is how he inherently views the world.

Louis is extremely similar.

Louis treats his interactions with Lestat, even in retrospect, in a very romance filled manner where they're clearly the part of lovers though he doesn't outright state it. While he talks about the trashyness of Lestat he does so in an eloquent manner that discusses Lestat's intrigue as a vampire, his looks, his importance etc.

Louis tells his tale with himself the tragic protagonist just the same as Edward does. And treats his life as a series of tragic events that befall him, few of any of which are his fault, when in reality they appear to be an odd series of events in which he is more often than not somewhat responsible.

Louis also needs there to be an inherent meaning in vampirism. He looks for vampires in all the wrong places. He asks Lestat about vampires in Europe and Lestat tells him they're trash (turns out, Lestat was right, but Louis never realizes that). Louis goes to Romania to see the vampires there and is shocked! Shocked! When it turns out there's not a damn thing there and concludes in woe that vampires have no origin. This is genuinely distressing to him.

He's drawn to Paris far more than New Orleans and America because it's this old city with a rich history and what he views as the true owners of the French language. He wants to be European, to be a gentleman of European society, and in this screams Edward Cullen.

The Hatred of the Vampire Aesthetic

Edward and Louis both loathe what they have become but mostly for... what it makes them feel about themselves.

Edward is terrified he's a demon, believes he looks like a gargoyle, etc.

Louis is much the same, though not as extreme in that he finds vampires beautiful, but he views them as living ghouls and constantly bemoans his cursed and wretched existence.

More though, both try to follow the animal diet and find they can't do it on their own. In Edward's case, he does have Carlisle to help him and go back to, so he gets back on the horse. In Louis' case he ends up eating a baby and, well, you never come back from that.

After that, Louis comments that he was a very silly man doing silly things in this phase to Claudia when asked. It's not so much the loss of life itself that bothers Louis, it's the idea of the loss of life and the idea that it doesn't bother him.

Much like Edward.

They Get Fucking Weird About Love

Edward has his thing with Bella, I've talked about it at length.

Louis has Lestat, which is... complicated, he has Armand who is... the worst and a teenager and utterly insufferable, and he has... Claudia... Who is five. And who he starts narratively treating more and more like a grown woman (who is also five forever) but who tries to dress and act more maturely (but she's totally five) and it's uh unclear if he has sex with her or not...

But he makes it sound very romantic in his interview. His relationship with Claudia is a tragic, doomed, romance at which Lestat is entirely at fault which is why they fed him to alligators. Louis portrays himself as a mostly sympathetic narrator who found himself in this torrid and taboo love affair

So... They're the Same

No, Louis is a saner Edward in that Interview with a Vampire, a recollection from Louis's point of view told to a journalist, reads much less insane than Midnight Sun which is Edward's internal musings.

Louis has a firmer grasp on reality, even on those around him, than Edward.

But they do have some of the same tendencies.

#twilight #twilight meta #twilight headcanon #twilight renaissance #interview with a vampire #interview with a vampire meta #interview with a vampire headcanon #edward cullen #anti edward cullen #louis pointe du lac #anti louis pointe du lac #meta #headcanon #opinion