#and ultimately both are puppets in the play of the empire. i love it so much

[ad-hawkeye]

patriarch in his first appearance: here is my tragic backstory. you will get to play it out exactly as it happened to me. i need to see if my situation could have gone any other way. you will feel exactly what i felt, understand my motivations exactly as i did. you know how i became the man i am. and what happened to me.

prefect luminary after several events, cards, and main story chapters:

like wow! patriarch is certainly an ayn and prefect luminary is certainly an alkaid alright!

[dangraccoon]

To Rest

Day 19 ~ finding old messages ~ (Alt. Prompt)

Obi-Wan Kenobi

Word Count: 2685 because I am apparently incapable of writing little fics for these men Content: major character death, Cody's death, death from old age, Rex's death is mentioned, saying goodbye, 'in case I die' message, dinluke is mentioned don't at me, This is in the same au (guess it's an au now lmao) as day 11's Awake Now; I wouldn't say it's necessary to read that first, but it wouldn't hurt :)

Mando'a Guide: (there's a lot for this one) vode - siblings (brothers in this context, used to refer to the clones as a whole) ner riduur - my spouse Kote - glory; what I believe Cody's name was before it was misheard or simplified to Cody, and what he goes by in hiding ner jare'la alor - my reckless leader osik - dung/shit mesh'la - beautiful ner cyar'ad - my lover Ni su'cuyi, gar kyr'adyc, ni partayli, gar darasuum - Mandalorian ritual, followed by the repetition of loved ones' names. "I’m still alive, but you are dead. I remember you, so you are eternal." ner tranyc al'verde - my sunny commander ner nepareyc jetii - my impatient jedi

A quick author's note: I do not ship Rexsoka - I see them as having a very sibling-like bond and that is what I briefly portray in this fic. I don't care if you do ship them, that's your business, but please do not claim that small portion of this fic for that ship. Much love and respect, 川💛

Ever since he’d met Cody, Obi-Wan knew their time would be limited. 

He knew that one or both of them could easily die on the battlefield.

He knew that if they won the war, he’d go back to his council duties, and the Republic would do with Cody and his as it pleased.

He knew that if they lost, they’d both likely be executed.

Regardless, he knew that it was them. Every time he was near the man, it felt like the Force was crying out in pure joy. They could not truly be together, but they’d always promised each other that they would be. “After the war, Obi. After the war. I promise.”

But then the war did end. Neither faction seemed to win, but the Jedi Order–the closest thing Obi-Wan had to a family–lost, slain by the millions of soldiers who bore the same face, but such different, beautiful, unique, bright lights in the Force. 

The vode betrayed the Jedi, but Obi-Wan knew now that it wasn’t their fault; the Sith had used their bodies like puppets, then discarded them once they were done playing with them.

Cody finding him on Tatooine had shaken him, violently. After all, if the Empire knew where he was, what was to stop them from finding Luke or Leia?

But Cody wasn’t here looking for him–or at least he didn’t know why he was here–but he found him all the same. And just like that, despite the time that had passed, it was them again. That magnetic pull never failed, and that sweet, whispered promise always held true.

Although Obi-Wan still felt the weight of grief on his shoulders, everything seemed less dismal with his husband. Ner riduur, as Cody always hummed in his ear.

Seeing Kote bring Obi-Wan–or Ben as he now went–out of the dark, lonely existence he’d subjected himself to, lightened Owen and Beru’s hearts, somewhat, as well. Ben and Kote were weekly dinner guests at the Lars homestead.

Kote would take odd jobs in Mos Taike, then he’d come home and continue his construction of their home. 

They built a loving home within each other as well. Sure, they’d had their disagreements; they’d bicker, but ultimately, one would approach the other with tea and they’d simply talk like they always had.

It didn’t take long for time to catch up to them, however. The first clue was when Kote had slipped down the few stairs into their living room. He’d managed to catch himself on the wall, but his gait had never been quite the same since.

When Ben remarked on Kote’s waning agility, Kote snarked back “Next year we’re technically the same age, you know.”

His hearing went next. Ben had to raise his speaking volume more and more as the years passed. Kote would pretend he’d not been paying attention, or would simply agree when he didn’t hear everything Ben had said. After recording a holo of his louder and louder attempts to gain Kote’s attention, however, Ben was able to convince him to use a hearing aid.

Despite what it indicated, Ben couldn’t say Kote’s need for reading glasses truly bothered him. Kote would use it to his advantage, of course, putting them on even if he didn’t actually require them at the moment, just to see Ben squirm in his seat.

His hair eventually started to gray, although anytime Ben brought it up, Kote would just wave it off as it being “a delayed stress response from worrying about you, ner jare’la alor”.

The creases at the corners of his eyes and mouth deepened, his reaction times slowed, and he seemed to grow cold more easily, but the true sign was when he fell.

Kote had somehow–probably with the use of his reading glasses and that crooked smirk–convinced Ben that he would be fine to fight at Rex’s side on Endor. Ben cursed himself for agreeing to bring him to that battle.

“It’ll be just like old times, Obi,” he’d laughed. Ben smiled and snarked at him, pretending not to notice that Kote had again forgotten they’d been going by ‘Ben’ and ‘Kote’ since the end of the Clone Wars. 

And then he’d been hurt. One lucky shot to his bad leg and he was down. He would use a repulsorlift chair for the rest of his life.

They were outside one night, Ben’s head resting on Kote’s knee, gazing up at the stars when Kote finally acknowledged what was happening to him.

“How are you feeling?” Ben asked.

“Sort of…odd,” Kote answered.

“‘Odd’ how?”

“Think that advanced aging osik is catchin’ up to me, Obi,” he hummed.

“You think so?” Ben had answered. There was no sarcasm, no negativity in it.

“You know it is, mesh’la,” he’d chuckled. “I see the way you look at me sometimes.”

“I don’t–”

“When I forget, or when I can’t hear you,” Kote had continued, paying no mind to Ben’s protests as he carded his fingers through graying auburn hair. “You get that same look in your eyes like I’m gonna crumble to dust the second you touch me.”

Ben looked up at him, his wonderful, charming riduur. “It’s not that,” he said, pointedly ignoring the way his eyes began to well up. “I just–” he sighed. “Would you believe that I’m scared to lose you?” His hand gripped the fabric of Kote’s pants. “After all this time and everything we’ve been through, I can’t imagine being alone anymore.”

Kote hummed. “I’d believe it, though I doubt you’d ever be alone,” he answered after a moment. “Do you know what today is?” 

Ben lifted his head to look up at him. His confusion and slight concern must have been written plainly on his face. Or, perhaps, Kote could read Ben’s expressions like they were his own.

“Humor me,” he chuckled. 

Ben frowned. “Zhellday.”

Kote laughed, the soft sound coiling around Ben’s heart like it always had. “Well, yes, I suppose it is, but there’s something I find special about today.” He smirked at his husband, who in return, narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

“33 years ago, Commander CC-2224–also known as ‘Cody’–of the Grand Army of the Republic was assigned to the 212th Attack Battalion, under the command of Jedi Master General Obi-Wan Kenobi,” Kote said, his voice taking on a certain commanding air to it that Ben hadn’t heard in quite some time.

“Kote,” he smiled. 

“33 years ago today, I walked onto the bridge of the Negotiator, scared out of my wits–”

“Oh, you were not.”

“I was! The only Jedi I’d ever met before that was General Ti!”

Ben laughed, despite that old heartache that never seemed to fade. “Oh, well I suppose that’s understandable then. Shaak was kind, but terrifying in all the right ways.”

“Exactly,” Kote grinned. “When I got to the bridge, I thought there must’ve been some kind of mistake.”

“Did you now?” Ben raised a brow, curious to see where this was headed.

“Oh definitely. I thought they were sending me out with a Jedi Master, not a youngling.”

Ben chuckled. “Please, ner cyar’ad. Flattery won’t get you very far with the state of my knees these days.”

Kote groaned. “It was worth a shot,” he snickered.

Ben rolled his eyes. “What did you really think?”

Kote’s mischievous grin faded into the same confident, trusting smile that had bewitched Ben all those years ago. “I thought I was the luckiest son of a bantha in the whole army.”

Ben laughed as they went back inside to their bed. They lay in each other’s arms, talking, laughing, and smiling until they nodded off to sleep.

When Ben awoke, he found that Kote had not. Ben had seen plenty of death in his long life, but he’d never seen anyone still smiling after they’d passed.

He’d wept for quite some time, holding Kote’s cold hand in his, laying soft kisses on his forehead. He was certain that he’d sat there for far longer than he should have. He needed to make arrangements. He had people to inform. 

But he’d never given himself the time to grieve before. It had always been a luxury he could never afford.

His voice shook as he remembered those words they’d always uttered together. “Ni su'cuyi, gar kyr'adyc, ni partayli, gar darasuum. Kote, ner tranyc al’verde.”

He sat almost perfectly still until somewhere around noon. He kissed his husband’s forehead one more time, before drawing their bedsheets over him once more.

His comm in hand, he struggled to find the strength to decide who to call first.

He looked back towards the bedroom where his riduur lay, and the realization washed over him. His husband was right; he’d never truly be alone.

The holo pinged a few times before a soft voice and smiling face came over the comm. “Master Obi-Wan,” Ahsoka hummed over the holo. “Are you okay?”

“I-I’m–” he mumbled. “It’s Ko– Cody.”

Realization stole over his old friend. “Oh, Obi-Wan,” she whispered. “I’m so sorry.”

“Do you–” he cleared his throat. “Do you still keep in contact with Rex? Is he…?”

“He passed on a couple days ago,” Ahsoka murmured. “At least they can walk with each other.”

Ben nodded. “How are you holding up? Were you there?” 

“He called about a week ago,” Ahsoka nodded. “Said he felt odd. I got there and a few days later he passed in his sleep.”

“How strange,” he hummed. “Cody said something similar last night.”

“Clone thing, you think?” she said. Despite all her years, Ben could still hear that curious lilt in her voice, the one that he knew meant research and investigation.

“Who’s to say, dear one?” Ben smiled wearily as he watched her focus drift. “Ahsoka, do you keep frequent contact with Luke? I fear he will be devastated; Kote was always his favorite,” he sighed. “After ‘Auntie Soka’, of course,” he added.

“I just spoke with him yesterday. He was taking Din and Grogu to meet Owen and Beru,” she said.

“That should be quite interesting,” he mused. “I suppose I’ll tell him after he arrives then. I should contact Leia soon, though.”

“I’m certain she’ll be there in a heartbeat.”

Ben waved a hand in dismissal. “She’s quite busy now, I doubt she’ll have any time for me.”

Ahsoka gave him a look of disbelief. “Sure, Master. But are you–” she hesitated, biting her lip.

Ben eyed her holoimage, one brow raised. 

“Are you going to tell him?” she finally asked.

Ben’s brow furrowed. “You know he doesn’t want to hear from me.”

“Master,” she said, her eyes glancing off to the side. “Maybe he needs you more than you think. Maybe you need each other.”

Ben was overcome with the feeling that she wasn’t only speaking to him. He decided against saying anything about it though. “I’m sure he has my comm number restricted. Perhaps you can relay the news as a favor to your old grandmaster?”

She chuckled but rolled her eyes. “I will, Master Obi-Wan. Please take care of yourself. Let me know if there is anything you need.”

“Thank you, Ahsoka,” he said, bowing his head. “Just hearing your voice helps.”

“May the Force be with you, Master.”

“You as well.”

Ben stared at the projector for a long moment before pressing in another number.

“Uncle Ben!” Leia smiled. “How have you been?”

He opened his mouth to answer but found the words caught in his throat.

Leia’s face fell. “When?”

Ben swallowed. “At some point last night. I woke up and…he was gone.”

“Okay,” Leia nodded. “Okay. I will be there–”

“Leia–”

“–in two days–no, probably three. Do you know where Luke is?”

“Ahsoka said he was en route to Tatooine regardless, but he doesn’t–”

“Good. He’ll be with you until I get there. Auntie Soka is coming, right?”

“I don’t think–”

“I’ll call and make sure.”

“Leia, I don’t think this is really necessary–”

“Uncle Ben, stop. You know we loved Kote,” she said, her determined scowl fading in favor of a sympathetic smile. “He was as much family to us as you are. We all want to be there for you, understand?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Ben said, an amused smile pulling at his lips.

“Three days, Ben,” she repeated. “I’ll be there.”

“Alright, Leia,” he nodded.

He ended the holo after she ran out of range, calling after her son, whom he’d been honored to have named after him, but was likely causing some sort of chaos. He was reminded of the child’s grandfather.

He’d lost track of all time, shortly after that. He went about the house, doing the tasks he’d normally do. He tended the few plants he’d kept in the hydroponic pots Kote had built him, ate the ration packs they’d have more and more with their increased age, napped on the couch, made himself a cup of tea–though he’d made far too much to begin with, unaccustomed to serving one–and decided to go through an old box Kote had stored away in the basement a few years back.

The sand and cobweb-covered container was relatively small. He couldn’t imagine what could’ve given it the weight it held. Perhaps it’s my age, he joked to himself. He wished he could hear the sardonic reply he was sure his husband would have given.

When he finally opened the box, he was somewhat surprised to see about a few data sticks.

He brought them up to their console. They were labeled with Kote’s regulation-perfect handwriting, with numbers. He found the one labeled ‘1’ and plugged it in.

Ben was almost startled as the holo-projector began to play. Standing before him was his husband, looking young, handsome, and healthy.

“Hello Ben,” he said, his smile soft and reassuring. 

He’d almost forgotten what his riduur sounded like so long ago before time and age had begun to weigh into that warm baritone. With a start, Ben realized he’d probably recorded this sometime right around their wedding.

Holo-Kote chuckled. “Think we’d both be lying if we said we didn’t know what this was. One way or another, I’m gone. Maybe the Empire caught up with me or maybe we’ve had a long life together. Regardless, I hope you know that you… you are everything to me.

“I don’t know if I believe those old stories about ‘soulmates’, and even if I did, I’m not so sure clones like me would even have one, but I think–no, I know–that if I did, it’s you.

“You’re probably crying now,” Holo-Kote grinned, wiping his own budding tears away. 

Ben touched his cheek. “Right as always, my dear,” he whispered.

“Anyway, I made this just to keep that stubborn brain of yours from believing anything but this; I love you, Obi-Wan Kenobi. I have from the moment I met you and I will never stop. I married you today and by the Maker, I will do anything and everything within my power to live up to the love you give me. I can only hope that by the time you watch this, I’ll have proven myself worthy of your love.

“I love you, Obi. And please never forget tha–”

“Kote?” Ben heard himself call from another room. “My dear, I believe it’s high time that you get in here and perform your husbandly duties.”

Ben couldn’t help but bark out a laugh at his younger self. He remembered that night well; Kote had, in fact, performed. He wiped his tears away on his sleeve.

“I’ll be right in, ner nepareyc jetii,” Kote smiled off to the side, he then looked back at the holo-recorder. “Maker, I hope the recorder picked that up. In case I don’t get the chance to tell you one last time before I go– you are the partner of my days, the companion of my heart, and the friend of my life. I love you, ner riduur. Goodbye… for now.”

The holo froze at the end, the image of his husband smiling as he pressed the button to end the recording would be etched in his heart for the rest of his days.

« Previous Day Next Day »

Thanks for reading! - River

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[paradox-time]

Ok, imma jump in the kitchen with you.

Gale definitely feels like The Eye, his curiosity and greed for hidden knowledge was his downfall.

Shadowheart thematically is perfect for The Dark

Lae'zel, though, isn't as much Slaughter as she is Vast. A warrior from the Astral Plane, a soldier to a Tyrant who's only goal is God-like power and influence. Being from a place without time or boundary. Just, her whole culture is based on the concept of an Infinite Empire. Then she becomes a Space Warrior trying to kill a supposedly immortal god-queen. Lae'zel is The Vast.

Karlach being part of The Lonely makes a ton of sense, her isolation is a huge portion of her struggle, but as obvious as it is, I like The Desolation for her. Everything she ever loved and everything she ever lived for was ripped away violently and now she's literally always of fire and burns away anything she touches because of a random violent one-off bad-luck shit-show. That's the entire point of The Desolation.

Wyll is a difficult one. The Hunt works from the "he hunts monsters" angle, but that's it. The Lonely works better for Wyll than it does for Karlach, though. Isolated from his family by Mizora, banished from his home by his father, keeps himself alone because he is afraid that anything or anyone he cares about will be in danger because of his Infernal ties. Further isolated himself out of shame when he becomes part devil. Canonically has no close ties or friends, even from the city he spent his entire early life in. He craves a slow and dedicated romance that will last a lifetime so he won't have to be alone anymore.

I actually really like Astarion being linked with The Corruption. So many people forget that it's not just bugs and mold, but also unhealthy attachments and predatory relationships. Jane Prentiss loves The Hive as it ruins her from the inside out, The Corruption is just as much about toxicity and abuse as it is about maggots. Astarion, trapped by Cazador, continuously subjected to insane amounts of abuse, unable to leave, unable to heal. Resentment growing like rot until he has the ultimate choice of letting it consume him until he is exactly what he hated, or cutting out the festering mass that is everything that connects him to Cazador. Also the whole Szarr family crest being a Rat King is so Corruption coded. Also vampires have always been an allegory for both disease and predatory relationships. Give yourself credit where credit is due, Astarion as The Corruption is genius.

The Dark Urge being such a customizable character makes his entity a bit harder to consider. Depending on how you play Durge, he could go Slaughter, Spiral, or even Web. I love the Extinction angle though, but that's less his character and more his purpose (a purpose that he is ignoring to go play in the woods with a bunch of tadpoled strangers for a few months, no wonder Bhaal was upset). I don't even have a concrete answer for Durge, weird considering I almost exclusively play as him (12 times lol). He is just such a fucked up little hodge-podge of opposing forced daring to try to act as a person. Uncontrollable bloodthirst that he takes undeniable glee in, despite how he might feel about his joy at bloodsport afterwards. That is absolutely Slaughter. The voices in his head, the visions in his dreams, his fantasies turned action without him even meaning to, his total lack of understanding what is real and what is The Urges, the memory loss and paranoia. Dude, it's The Spiral. The you have his issues with control. The only reason he exists is to be his father's will on the material plane, a puppet to possess, a knife to be wielded. He is not even technically a sentient person, more a creature made to look like a person that suddenly decided it wanted agency. Like the pencil you use to write suddenly trying to draw by itself. It's why he has to die to free himself from Bhaal. And even then, he wasn't free until a different god forced him out of Bhaal's domain. The Dark Urge is absolutely a victim of The Web. I leave the final alignment up to reader discretion, I literally can't pick.

Ok thanks for the opportunity to yap about both BG3 and The Magnus Archives in the same post. <3

Alright guys I had an idea

Gale - Eye

Shadowheart - Dark

Lae’zel - Slaughter

Karlach - Lonely

Wyll - Hunt???? Idk there is probably a better fear for him but I’m not sure rn

Astarion - the corruption, this one is also a big stretch

Durge - Definitely the Slaughter but tbh I don’t want to double up on fears so I’m going to say the extinction

[welcometogrouchland]

Pacing around cause I'm having the exact same feeling that I got with thanks to them which is that I love the episode but it doesn't quite feel complete.

I think I've seen people say it's poorly paced which I don't think is true! This episode knows what it's about and only accomplishes what it sets out to. It is very clearly about emotional arcs and those are the things that end up resolved. everything else is just doing the legwork of setting up elements for the finale (getting people all in the one place, giving characters motivations and plots, etc).

It's all that background set up that goes unresolved because it's not for this episode, it's for the next, the same way something like Flapjack's sacrifice and Belos' plan was at the end of TTT.

I genuinely love FTF so much, it has some of my favorite character work in the series. Willow and Luz stealing the show, Amity and Gus getting little moments, Hunter once again being a vehicle for the writers to do a heartbreaking portrayal of grief, just like they did in TTT w/ Luz and Camilla.

They finally got me to like Boscha, they took the time to finally justify what makes kikimora so much worse than all the other emperor's coven lackies that we've met (something I always thought was lacking), they gave someone like mattholomule presence and development.

They put their blood, sweat and tears into the characters this episode, so that they can cover all the plot ground they need to next ep with minimal baggage.

again...it's just that understanding of knowing that none of these episodes are complete without the other, where they'll form into a 90 minute TV movie that does it's best to tell the story with the time it has left. Everything I wanted them to dwell on was something that couldn't have been included without taking something else away.

And sometimes the understatement works! Gus and Willow don't have a dramatic talk with Hunter about him being a grimwalker cause...they don't care. Respectfully. No matter what he is, they love who he is. Same with Eda and King missing Luz. They don't need to say it. It's felt very clearly.

I think I also just struggled to identify the theme at first, which always gets my jorts in a twist. Then, after a bit of looking around at other people's takes and opening my mind passed my preconceived wants and biases, I realized the theme (I think)

This episode is about adults making mistakes, kids being put in positions of "power", as they either try to fix things or end up replicating the broken dynamics set up by the adults.

(under a read more cause this started as a review-ish and then it got LONG bc. I just really love the themes of this show)

It's in the little things.

How no adults except Eda and Lilith (by king's leverage) survived puppet-ification whereas all the kids did. How those kids survived because the adults sacrificed themselves and gave them an inadvertent head start.

(not a huge predictions guy but I have a feeling that if Luz and Co end up needing to actually play the collectors new game, it's gonna be the kids who understand it intuitively, especially Luz)

How the kids tried to create a functioning society but ended up replicating the dynamic of their previous dictatorial society, right down to a scared and semi-vindictive child being manipulated by a less powerful person for their own gain. Boschas arguably meaner than the collector (when you take intention into account) and kikimora is much more pathetic than Belos but that's still the general dynamic going on.

How the episode ends with the kids of hexside finally cooperating in order to take down the last sluggish vestiges of Belos' empire's mindset.

How characters like Willow and Hunter bottle their feelings or otherwise struggle to express them but ultimately have to learn to be open so that they don't explode. This is something the adults in the show have repeatedly struggled with and Boshca herself points out how both her and Willow are leaders. Kids being put in positions of responsibility and fumbling their way through with no guiding hand (and I could talk all day about hubtlow hand symbolism. All day)

How Camilla helps Luz but finally opening up and relating both of their struggles to each other's, telling her that they're not so different and Camilla, the adult, made a mistake that she regrets. But she can only move forward and try to understand Luz and her world better.

How it seems that, in the show that riffs on the Isekai genre, where multiple characters have escaped to other worlds (Caleb, Younger Eda and Luz) in order to be understood but seemingly never verbalized this, leading to catastrophic fallout, the solution to the main character's issues is to finally just. Understand what it is she wants out of life. And it's a very simple but very existential and meaningful goal, of wanting to be understood. The way that Caleb, Eda, and even Camilla never were.

How Luz carving a palismen in a way no-one else ever thought too seemingly gave it new and exciting abilities. Nothing to do with her being inherently special or the titans specialist little guy. Just her making an unconventional choice and being rewarded for it. It almost feels like season 1 again, y'know?

It's in the way that the collector is literally rewriting their history to be "better", but (even though they're less violent than the usual expectations of their culture) still coming up short because they're only able to understand one person in the world and treat everyone else like toys. Toys that they love, but children inevitably break even their favorite toys when they play too rough. The collectors trying to be different but they're too young, naive and manipulated to see what was actually wrong with their species way of life.

The way that king wants to stop the cycle of collectors and titans killing and trapping each other by just talking to the collector but because of circumstances still has to go behind their back which just gives Belos' fire more fuel (though tbh Belos really took a gamble on that one)

It's all of this together that makes me insane because I feel like I need the payoff right now in order to fully satiate myself but at the same time...I don't. Because I don't want it to end.

For the future was a really good episode. Bit cluttered, bit busy, but then again when is this show not? I've come to love that about the owl house despite it's nature as a flaw.

I wanna know who that guy in the in-between realm was from the beginning of the episode (titan trapper?) And I want to know what purpose he serves. I want to know where characters like Alador and Steve are, what odalia's final moment will be, what the collectors new game might be, how the conflict is going to resolve and how the show will end. And I might only get some of these in depth, and others not at all and I can't even be mad about it. This show deserves more but I'm happy with this episode, not really as a standalone episode, but as a part of this larger movie-like send-off. Looking forward to watching and dreaming. Probably going to make fanart once I finish my current assignments (I have sketches for the reqs!)

This has been a post so long and rambly that I hesitate to maintag it. It's not for anyone. It's just for me. And I'm okay with that

[codergirlsblog]

Danganronpa non despair au headcanon: in this au no one died, everyone lives happy lives in the school(junko and mukuro have a NORMAL AND HEALTHY relationship, AND I DONT WANNA HEAR ANYTHING AGAINST IT!!!) gundham and ibuki are still siblings who get into a lot of shenanigans and both are making a band. Ibuki is on guitar and gundham is on drums, now all they need is a singer. The characters from the future arc are in this au but I’m only focusing on Seiko and ruruka: so their so called ‘friendship’ is still very much toxic(I looking at you ruruka, I still hate you). In seiko’s spare time she would sing and she really enjoyed it(p.s. she can sing extremely good, but decided to be the ultimate pharmacist to not stand out too much). Anyways, ibuki and gundham were practicing and overheard seiko’s amazing singing. They were amazed and asked her if she wanted to join their band. Seiko was flattered but said no because she was afraid of ruruka not approving of it. Gundham and ibuki have noticed that ruruka was not treating seiko very well and decided to do something about it: they told seiko not to care about what she thinks and to decide for herself and besides, what’s wrong with having two talents. Seiko said that she would think about it because it does sound good. Seiko didn’t tell ruruka nothing about the band and after a little thinking, she agreed. So after that, ibuki helped to end seiko and ruruka’s relationship completely: she made it clear in a call that Seiko wanted nothing to do with her and will no longer be her puppet anymore and got seiko to block all contact with her, and soon after that seiko, gundham and ibuki would practice every day to get good(and so far, their looking great.) seiko also became like a third sibling to gundham and ibuki and she loves it. There was a talent show coming up for hopes peak and the Tanaka empire(that’s what they call their band, curtesy of gundham) signed up for it and at first seiko was a little reluctant but after some convincing, she agreed and they all practiced and practiced until the day of the talent show. When that day came, the Tanaka empire was very nervous but also determined to get the gold. So to blow everyone away they decided to play the rock version of bad romance and Seiko was gonna sing the lyrics(she was nervous but excited). When it was their turn, they started off with the guitar and drums then can the singing. And let me tell you, everyone in the audience was so shocked and surprised by this(except ruruka, she was just so angry and felt betrayed but Seiko didn’t care). Seiko was singing her heart out and the audience was just so shocked by it. When the song ended, ruruka booed but it was blocked out by everyone clapping and cheering and chanting ‘TANAKA’!!! Anyways, the judges loved it and the Tanaka empire got first place, Seiko was proud of herself for singing in front of the whole school. Ruruka came by just to spite and yell at seiko for leaving her for these rejects, Seiko just rolled her eyes and walked off(leaving ruruka there, still screaming like a banshee). Seiko had finally felt so free after all this time and after the performance, she was just the talk of the entire school(the reserve course tried to spill fake rumors to hopes peak because they were jealous). Seiko had finally felt like she belonged and had to real and trusting friends, ibuki and gundham(who she see’s as a brother and sister).

[shakingthestars]

The problematic conclusion of the Rise of Skywalker – a “whitewashing” of the Skywalker legacy ?

Art by  kasiopea-star-wars

Nearly two months after The Rise of Skywalker came to theaters, I have finally found a way to express my throughts about the conclusion of this galactic journey. As a new Skywalker trilogy was announced years ago, I remember not feeling thrilled by the idea of a sequel, asking myself what would be the added-value to the story for an arc that started and ended with Anakin Skywalker. Yet I remember feeling pleasantly surprised by how promising The Force Awakens (TFA) was in introducing the characters, playing on their dynamics and setting up the family dramas : a stormtrooper taken away from his family ; a scavenger waiting for the return of her parents ; an heir rejecting his birth name ; a family desintegrated by a repeating tragedy. The Last Jedi (TLJ) felt refreshing by bringing the family drama to a higher level, deepening the heroine/antagonist dynamic and paving the way for a refined sight of the Jedi philosophy. As much The Rise of Skywalker (TROS) has its entertaining moments as a standalone, I couldn’t help feeling growingly unconfortable about this movie as a conclusion of the Skywalker story.

Why Return of the Jedi (ROTJ) originally felt like a satisfying conclusion of the Skywalker story…

Among the several reasons why TROS fails to deliver a satisfying conclusion to this 42 years old arc, the very last act of the franchise stands out as strangely  dissonant with the rest of the entire story. Let’s have a look back at the original ending set up by  Return of the Jedi (ROTJ). Far from being my favorite Star Wars movie because of the Jabba the Hutt sequence, ROTJ never failed to get me emotional by the way it beautifully concluded the Skywalker arc. Beyond the joyful atmosphere around the galaxy and the celebration of the victory on Endor, the last sequence sets up a powerfully emotional ending because it’s all about healing the wounds through reconciliation :  reconciliation of a man with himself, reconciliation of a father with his son but also reconciliation of a fallen Jedi with the old friends he once betrayed. Thus, as sad as Anakin Skywalker’s death may be, the outcome of his tragic life is counterbalanced by what we get to experience on screen with the characters, from his funeral scene to the appearance of the Force Ghosts.  Everything is synchronized in a way that enables the viewer to feel that the hero of the OT, Luke Skywalker,  has now completed his journey to find himself, can let the past behind him and move on to build a brighter future surrounded by his « family ». At that point, this conclusion left  me as the viewer with the satisfying feeling that the Skywalker arc is complete, bringing me back to my initial question : what was their story worth to continue for ?

…that left the Skywalkers with an unresolved family business

Yet, when we meet the Skywalkers again 30 years later, it appears that the family has completely imploded : a fallen son enrolled in the ennemy camp, the parents separated, the uncle exiled on a planet far far away. TFA introduces the viewer to a family tragedy that repeated itself with a kid targeted by a master puppet for his “mighty blood” in order to follow his grandfather’s footsteps. We learn from the canon novel Bloodline as well as TFA make it clear that neither Leia nor Han ever forgave Vader and very much feared that their only son would take after him: “We’ve done everything we could have done. There’s too much Vader in him”. As impressive as his sacrifice might have been for a 1983 viewer, Vader’s redemption was the result of a sudden turn for the sake of one person, an action that neither Leia nor the Galaxy got  to witness, making Anakin only an unsung hero of the victory against the Empire. His sacrifice didn’t enable any reconciliation of his daughter with the dark side of his legacy, paving the way for the tragedy to repeat with his own grandson. As unsettling as Luke’s characterization may have been in TLJ, the attempt to kill his own nephew in his sleep suggest that he probably wasn’t as reconciled with his father’s legacy as he thought. In other words, the wound healing through reconciliation set up in ROTJ was uncomplete and left door open for the tragedy to repeat, which leads to consider the importance of Ben in the sequel trilogy of a family arc that has been told over 42 years in 9 episodes :

-        A son who witnessed his slave mother dying in his arms

-        A mother who died in childbirth from a broken heart

-        Husbands and wives who losed their respective partners

-        Parents who lose their daughter

-        Kids who got separated from their parents

-        A nephew who witnessed his adoptive parents getting killed

-        Fathers who died sacrifying for their sons

-        An uncle who died apologizing to his nephew

-        A son who lose his mother after she sacrificed for him

"As I once fell, so falls the last Skywalker”

Named after Ben – “You’re my only hope” – Kenobi, Ben Solo represented the hope that at least a Skywalker could finally make it through darkness. He was not just the only descendant of the Skywalker family. He was also the bearer of all the abuse, pain and tragedies that this family has been through since his grandfather himself was targeted by their sworn ennemy: Palpatine.  Thus, he is the recipient of all the wounds that didn’t heal properly within the family, making his manipulation by Palpatine, his feeling of rejection by his parents and the murder attempt by his uncle all the more tragic. The fact that Ben – and the Galaxy – was kept ignorant of the family connection with Vader certainly didn’t help, making him from early age an ideal target for the revenge of Palpatine: “I have been every voice you have ever heard inside your head”. People may argue that the outcome is okay since there will be no Skywalker descendant for the tragedy to repeat one day and that Rey  will ensure that  their legacy lives on by carry on the name. That Rey deserves to be part of the Skywalker legacy through her personal achievements is unquestionable. However, she is not the bearer of the tragedy that has plagued the Skywalker family for the viewers to witness over 9 episodes. Although her backstory is heartbreaking to say the least, TROS doesn’t let the viewers  time to feel the depth of her own tragedy adding to the fact that we didn’t get to relate to the tragedy of the Palpatine family over  long-run. Even if Rey shoudn’t be reduced to her bloodline (which was the risk of making her a Palpatine through), didn’t Palpatine achieve what he wanted in the end ? People may argue he lose since his own granddaughter will carry on the Skywalker name as a Jedi. However, if his personal revenge against the Skywalkers was to end their bloodline, then he definitely got what he wanted after being the cause of most of their tragedies:

-        He predicted Padme’s death, which he brought Anakin to provoke

-        He wanted Anakin’s death, which happened through his sacrifice  for Luke

-        He wanted Han’s death, which he brough Kylo to provoke

-        He wanted Luke’s death, which indirectly happened through his sacrifice 

-        He wanted Leia’s death, which happened through her sacrifice for Ben

-        He wanted Ben’s death, which happened through his sacrifice for Rey 

The problematic execution of Ben Solo’s redemption

From the moment TFA had Ben Solo aka Kylo Ren commit a parricide, the question of his redemption was at the heart of his character arc. Beyond the passionate discussion about whether or not he should have lived given his dark actions, it’s the way he was treated in the last act that doesn’t feel right put in the bigger context of the story. It is legitimate that Rey was the one person to ultimately take down Palpatine, all the more so that she is revealed to be a Palpatine descendant. Yet, the role in which Ben Solo was relegated during the final battle on Exegol doesn’t feel right within the framework of the entire arc. The Skywalker descendant – as bearer of the family tragedy – got to stand barely 5 seconds against the abuser of his family, only for his body to be used as a mean to resurrect Palpatines, grandfather and granddaughter. Worse : the entire set up for the Force dyad in the ST was made useful for that sole purpose : draining the Force energy of the Skywalker to death so that the Palpatines could live on. Even if the last Skywalker was meant to die anyway, why giving him the same redemption as his grandfather, knowing that this redemption path only reconciled one person – Luke – with the dark side of the Skywalker legacy? Why having him sacrifice for the sake of only one person instead of putting him in front of a dilemma that would have required to overcome the evil voices once and for all for the greater good of the Galaxy?  Why having no witness of his ultimate inner struggle instead of letting the Galaxy finally know what was behind the darkness of both Skywalkers grandfather and grandson ? I am aware that this is easy to critisize directing choices once the movie is out but based on all what was demonstrated above I believe that the Skywalker family would have deserved that their only descendant had a more active part in overcoming their abuser once and for all by overcoming the darkness he planted in them.  In my ideal scenario, Rey would have taken down Palpatine all alone in her badass way all alone but there would have been an ultimate twist. The remaining fleet would have been programmed by Palpatine to execute the last order,  from a signal sent from a dark artifact on Exegol for all the Galaxy to witness in horror. The only way for someone to desactivate it would have required to overcome his/her darkest struggles within, which would have been a meaningful way to confront Ben with his family tragedy, the dark legacy of his grandfather and his own dark actions. I would have loved the idea that the evil voices put him in front of a dilemma and that his grandfather finally helped him to take the right decision based on his own fateful experience:  choosing between saving  a loved one from her death state or saving planets from destruction for the greater good. There were several meaningful scenes that could have foreshadowed this kind of scenario. Instead, TROS gave us the same redemption as ROTJ :

-        A short-term redemption path 

-        A sacrifice for the sake of one person

-        No witness of the good action other than said person

Yet, disappearing to never be seen, mourned or mentioned ever again...

 A whitewashing of the Skywalker legacy

The ending scene of the Skywalker franchise takes place on Tatooine with Rey burrying the Skywalker lightsabers in the sand as a funeral, which is meant to enable her – and the viewer – to move on peacefully. According to Lucasfilm VFX supervisor Roger Guyett and screenwriter Chris Terrio, no Force ghost of Ben was created because “when you see Luke and Leia there, it’s about the Skywalker legacy”. For a movie that was supposed to tie all 9 movies together, the Prequel Trilogy (PT) doesn’t seem to exist as if the Skywalker story began with the Original Trilogy (OT). We get to see Cloud City and Endor after the final victory but no shot of Coruscant & Naboo. The family tragedy begun with the separation of the twin but the grooming of their father and the death of their mother doesn’t seem to be part of the traged. The Skywalker lightsaber is primarily presented as Luke’s lightsaber as if he was its original owner. What is canonly established through is that the Skywalker story began with a slave boy named Anakin Skywalker who was believed by the Jedi to be the Chosen One, which made him the target of a Sith named Palpatine, which led to a long-run family drama in the middle of a never-ending battle between the dark side and the light side. Given the importance of his fall to the story and how it fed the family drama beyond his death, his absence in the sequel trilogy is surprising, aside from a very discreet line to Rey : “Bring Balance as I did”. Shouldn’t Anakin have guided his fallen grandson too instead of helping only the granddaughter of his sworn ennemy ? More problematic is the way the family drama is resolved with the ending of TROS. While the family was split at the beginning of the ST, TROS doesn’t care to show the healing of the family wounds, except for the memory scene between Solo father and son. The reason why this scene is the most powerfully emotional moment of the movie in my mind is precisely for its ability to symbolize the reconciliation of a man with himself and a son with his father. Yet, the ending scene is only about reuniting the all in the white Holy Skywalkers who have never “sinned”, giving the unconfortable impression that the Skywalker descendant was disposable because he wasn’t worthy to have any place in the Skywalker legacy contrary to the heroine. After all, the original script of Duel of the Fates by Colin Trevorrow had Luke telling his nephew “You are no Skywalker”, as if the Skywalker legacy wasn’t made of both darkness and light and Luke himself didn’t contribute to this with his own mistakes. Although TROS is more subtle in its approach, the difference in the handling between  Anakin Skywalker and Ben Solo’s redemption after their death is telling:  kept a guarded secret by the person he saved; not even mourned by the only person he bonded with; not even shown alongside his family. Dead or alive, his treatment on screen left me as a viewer with the unconfortable feeling that the Skywalker family as a whole wasn’t reconciled with the dark side of their legacy. Which brings me once again to the same question: what was their story worth to continue for?

Excerpt of the canon novel Bloodline

The purification of the heroine

Let’s talk now about how Rey ends her heroine’s journey compared to where she began. That journey was announced by Maz Kanata already in TFA: “The belonging (family) you seek is not behind you (birth family), it is ahead (found future)”. She was introduced  as desperate to find a place to belong because of her feeling of loneliness, which never incapacitated her ability to be a strong independant woman who knows how to handle herself.  Yet, her heroine journey alone on Tatooine where she takes the Skywalker name looking at the Binary Sunset under the watchful eye of the Skywalker Twins as Force Ghosts. Some may argue that she will be okay since she found a family in them and her Resistance friends, which is true to some degree but  uncomplete through. However, the ending looks out of place with a key character missing in this scene, whether he was supposed to be dead or alive: Ben. Although it was important to show in TROS that Rey was well surrounded by a supportive entourage (as a constrast to Ben before his fall), the ST established that the deepest emotional connection she had was with Kylo Ren/Rey.  I wouldn’t allow myself to judge those who find Reylo abusive and/or questionable because of his actions but I personally don’t think that the outcome of TROS is a feminist as it was meant to appear by having the heroine as a strong independant woman free from any romantic involvement . The ST makes it clear all along that although Rey obviously suffers from abandonment issue, she is more than capable of handling herself, know by herself what is right or not and decide conciously what (who) she wants for herself.  Some people may disaprove the very idea of “Reylo” for valid reason but claiming that the kiss came out of nowhere doesn’t make sense when one look closely at their interactions all along the ST. TLJ shows that the hand touch she initiated is the decisive moment where she gets to see what the viewer finally get to see only at the end of TROS :  the true face of Ben Solo, without the mask named Kylo Ren behind which he hid himself. From this moment on, my understanding is that Rey perfectly knew how to dissociate the person from his persona, thus her disenchantment in the Throne Room while confronted to his unwillingness to let go of his dark persona. With Rey shutting the door of the Millenium Falcon to his face, TROS could have made their dynamic an unrequited villainous crush afterwards. Although this is what it looks on the surface, the visual subtext tells a different story, which is a huge reason that makes their interactions so compelling to analyze. On Pasaana, Rey is shown staring longingly at little kids, sadly confessing that she has no family (despite living with the Resistance and her friends for a while) and being in deep thought at that moment. Barely 2 seconds after enter her dyad to renew his hand proposal. Of course, different interpretations can be made about this scene. I would argue that the chain of events in a matter ofminutes is meant to convey a specific message if one accept the idea that the hand proposal is metaphorically a marriage proposal. The ST sets the record straight through that despite her attraction to him Rey always rejected Kylo Ren and his entitled behavior while making heart eyes to Ben Solo and the selfless person she knew he was deep inside through their bond. The core of their unresolved business in TROS is all about him being desperate to know why she wanted to take his hand while being frustrated by her refusal to acknowledge it and her being desperate to hide the reason why she didn’t take it while being frustrated by his refusal to acknowledge who he really is. Both lied to themselves and each other out of fear of being rejected and disentchanted again. Thus, the tension rising until a confession that changed everything : “I wanted to take your hand, Ben’s hand”. Rey chose consciously to kiss Ben only once she was sure that the mask had definitely dropped and he had renounced to be someone else than who he really is.  Although Kylo Ren was chasing Rey, she was always the one who set the rules and initiated willingly any further step in their relationship and only when she felt he was his true self with her. This teaches an important lesson  – especially to teenage boys  – that you don’t earn the feelings of someone (no matter what feelings he/she has for you)  by hiding yourself behind a virile persona  and/or showing off toxic behaviors in order to impress said person. In other words, the love triangle was always between Rey, Kylo Ren and Ben Solo from a  female gaze perspective: it’s Ben who was presented as “object” of desire all along.  Yet, the choice that Rey willingly makes – and the desire that goes along with it – is taken away from her as if it was decided at her place that Ben Solo was never the right partner for her anyway.  After three movie setting up that the heart of her emotional journey was with him, the fact that he is totally erased from screen after – and despite – their love scene looks like a puritan attempt to purify the heroine from the sin she has committed.  Worse, she ends her journey where she began:  on a desolated sand planet, sliding innocently the dunes, wearing the same all white costume and an adopted child under parental watch. In a nutshell: pretty much like Luke at the beginning of his hero’s journey.

Rian Johnson:  “ The hand touch is the closest thing we’ll get to a sex scene in Star Wars”

Luke Skywalker (deleted line): “You’ve opened yourself to the dark side for a pair of pretty eyes”

Tatooine: an iconic place...of desolation

Although Tatooine may appear as a logical choice for the ending scene, the intention to recreate the atmosphere of the iconic scene from ANH falls flat in the context of TROS but also in the context of the whole franchise. According to Chris Terrio, the point was to fix the original sin of the franchise, which was the separation of the Twins by tying the lightsabers together like newborns. Did it make sense through to burry them on Tatooine ? Based on the Prequels, the Skywalker/ Palpatine arc has its roots on Naboo, when a Queen was forced to flee in order to meet the Senate representative of her home planet on Coruscant but met a slave boy from Tatooine on her way. Naboo may have been a less iconic choice for fanservice but in regard to the heartbeat of the Skywalker story, this is where Anakin and Padme’s love story blossomed, where Padme planned to give birth to their babies, where she is now resting forever: “Ani I wanna have our baby back home on Naboo”. Wasn’t the original sin that these kids were separated from their parents and all of them never got reunited ? Yet, Padme’s babies - and her husband by extension - were metaphorically burried on the very planet where Luke was never supposed to end up had the family tragedy not happened, where his father grew up as a slave, where his grandmother had a painful death, where his adoptive parents were murdered, where his sister was enslaved, where his brother in law was imprisoned, where he himself never wanted to return. Yet this is also this place that was chosen to end Rey’s heroine journey.  She ends up being the spiritual heir of the Twins, especially the Jedi that Leia would have become by her brother’s side had she not chosen romantic attachment over that path. In general, the ending sends the message  that romantic love and children only cause destruction while preventing parents from achieving their ambitions.  Padme and Anakin’s love created destruction through the immiment birth of the Twins ; Han and Leia’s love created destruction through Ben’s upbringing, only to have their sacrifice rewarded with his death and his sidelining of the legacy. Terrible message for teenagers  that no matter the selfless acts you do, you still deserve to be forgotten or even replaced  with someone more worthy if you lose yourself following the wrong way because you were a problem from the start. On a sidenote,  DLF probably failed to get people invested in the new characters, precisely because most of the characters and their interactions turned out to  feel superficial, interchangeable and disposable on the long run. Jahnnah was introduced to Lando in the very end for no particular reason, except maybe baiting the fans with future added-materials about a potential father/daughter dynamic. Finn and Rose kissed in TLJ? Let’s have her sidelined, Finn friendly tapping her shoulder, telling her to stay away and choosing the company of someone else in the next film. Zorii asked Poe to come with her? Let’s have her refusing to be with him, barely hours after their conversation. Rey and Ben kissed before he died?  Let’s have her flying out of Exegol with fanfare, happily reuniting with her friends and paying tribute to the Twins without showing an once of interest in the fate of her dyad.  In general, the movie leaves the feeling that  there is no deep sense of belonging for anybody and that they all are pretty alone despite forming a big "family" of friends on the surface. The ending feels even more out of place knowing that Rey’s journey was never meant to parallel Luke’s, who only wanted to become a Jedi like his father and ultimately became one. It was never the motivator of Rey’s journey to fight for a higher cause by becoming a Rebel or a Jedi in to follow the footsteps of a loved one and/or a mentor. Yes, she accomplished great things and it is absolutely right to enable her to fulfill any ambition she wishes to accomplish in the future. However, it is not because she had simple human needs too  that they were unimportant and meant to diminish her character. Let’s go back again to this Pasaana scene where we are reminded of the core of her heroine’s journey: “The belonging you seek is not behind you, it is ahead”. Of course, that could be interpreted in retrospect as a foreshadowing that she will take a new generation of Jedi as Rey Skywalker continuing the legacy of Luke. But again, the directing choices suggest otherwise: why showing her staring at 1-2 years old babies instead of 9-10 years old kids? Why suggesting that she may not have a family at that point but that she will have this possibility at the end of her journey? More important: why suggesting through the hand proposal that Ben Solo is the one through with she is meant to have a family ? Although her thoughts ain’t explicit, the chain of events suggests an underlying desire: marriage proposal, forming a family, having babies. Yet, Ben and Rey finally coming together resulted in a kiss of death and her ending like a virginal nun metaphorically burrying the kids she’ll never have with him. Terrible message for girls from a female gaze perspective that no matter how heroic she was and all the harships she went through, she is not allowed to get the belonging she chose willingly (contrary to most male heroes). Terrible message in general that  the wants openly expressed by women never really come true in Star Wars: Padme never got her babies back home on Naboo; Leia never got her son back home alive; Rey never got the home she really wished for with Ben. Even if Ben was meant to die like Jack Dawson from Titanic (given the few parallels used by TROS), his total absence after his death feels incredibly wrong, especially given how the only person whom with he bonded emotionally appears indifferent on screen to his fate. This closure on Tatooine without him rubs the viewer from witnessing the definitive healing of the family wounds but also from the feeling that the heroine can move on peacefully with her life: fulfilling her goals, being surrounded with her friends and why not  raising a family until she’ll be ultimately reunited with Skywalkers in death. Thus, a tragic ending like Titanic where you are aware as a viewer that Jack and Rose technically can’t be reunited in the afterlife feels strangely  more uplifting than the ending of TROS where it’s technically possible that Ben and Rey get reunited someday. What is shown on screen is what remains enshrined in the mind of the viewer. An ending scene on Naboo with Ben (alive or dead)  would have given a different vibe, reuniting metaphorically all Skywalkers (except Shmi Skywalker-Lars) in the same tombstone and symbolizing the family reconciliation: a husband with his wife; parents with their twins; a nephew with his uncle; a son with his mother ; a father living in his son’s heart since his death. Beyond that, what more meaningful message for Rey Palpatine than choosing the Skywalkers on the very planet where her own grandfather came from like Padme and began tormenting the Galaxy and her family ? Alas, the conclusion of the franchise shows the heroine  ending her journey alone on a desert planet, her birth family dead, her found family decimated, without her lover and her friends to be seen, surrounded by robots and ghosts…but with a cool name as consolation prize! 

[curlyhairedbibliophile]

Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko || ARC Review

Synopsis | Nothing is more important than loyalty. But what if you’ve sworn to protect the one you were born to destroy? Tarisai has always longed for the warmth of a family. She was raised in isolation by a mysterious, often absent mother known only as The Lady. The Lady sends her to the capital of the global empire of Aritsar to compete with other children to be chosen as one of the Crown Prince’s Council of 11. If she’s picked, she’ll be joined with the other Council members through the Ray, a bond deeper than blood. That closeness is irresistible to Tarisai, who has always wanted to belong somewhere. But The Lady has other ideas, including a magical wish that Tarisai is compelled to obey: Kill the Crown Prince once she gains his trust. Tarisai won’t stand by and become someone’s pawn—but is she strong enough to choose a different path for herself? With extraordinary world-building and breathtaking prose, Raybearer is the story of loyalty, fate, and the lengths we’re willing to go for the ones we love.

REVIEW

*Thanks to Amulet Books and Hear Our Voices Book Tours for this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. Any quotes included may change in final publication.*

Eleven danced around the throne, Eleven moons in glory shone, They shone around the sun.

But traitors rise and empires fall, And Sun-Ray-Sun will rule them all, When all is said-o, all is said And done-heh, done-heh, done.

I’ve been drawn to fantasy stories for as long as I can remember and they’ve been my coping mechanism to escaping the real world ever since. Raybearer grabbed my attention the moment it crossed my radar, not only marked with a Black girl with an afro on the cover that mirrored my own staring back at me, but with the promise of a journey that enticed from the opening line of the pitch. I should have known from the first mention of fairies in an African fantasy environment that I would be in for a beautifully wild ride.

My mother was the devil, and I, her puppet demon.

One of the elements I love most about fantasy is the world building and this one did not disappoint in the least bit. Aritsar is such a richly developed place, full of traditions and culture that leaped off of the page. Everything is so beautifully described and I could tell a lot of care went into crafting even the tiniest details in every corner of the kingdom. It made my heart so happy to read Black characters in experiences that I rarely see in fantasy novels, like the braiding party and being attended to and adored while holding positions of the throne. I also appreciated that there was a glossary and character appendix attached along with a pronunciation guide, which helped with all of the cultural references throughout the story. Stories with these influences have always been fascinating to me, even more when they also turn into learning opportunities. The core of the story for me was following this newly annointed council and the strength of their bond over time. Each member, though we don’t spend time with all of them equally as the four that take center stage, brings something different to the table and is well developed in their own way. I fell in love them immediately upon introduction and became even more attached with every turned page. You could feel the connection from the beginning with each interaction and how being separated in any capacity resulted in a bout of "council sickness," which I thought was a beautiful way to further demonstrate the importance and necessity of their bond. Accompanying them through their training process and becoming a family also helped with the attachment to their characters because I wanted to protect them at all costs, knowing what conflicts were at stake. The other characters were just as strong, which really speaks to Ifueko's writing. Some of their actions were questionable, but the more time I spent with them, I could see how they might have been led down that path and I could sympathize to some extent - especially when it comes to The Lady. My attachment to Tarisai definitely led to her being on the villain list (and just the basis of the plan, to be completely honest), but as the story went on, she started to give off Killmonger vibes. Information revealed along the way suggests that there was reasoning behind her plan, but there were definitely better avenues to achieve her goals (and maybe not involve innocent children! 🙈)

“The place closest to your soul isn’t your heart,” Kirah explained. “It’s your stomach. Anger, love, and sorrow simmer together there, like bubbles in in a cauldron. People of the Wing believe that when the Pelican breathed each soul into being, it wrote two secrets on a burning coal: your greatest good and your best desire. You swallowed the coal before being born, and it burned in your belly. That’s why we wail as newborns, Mama would say.”

Ultimately, the thing I took away from this aside from the relationships and the adventure was the focus on names and purpose. I love a good personal journey story and following Tarisai on hers, as well as the other characters at play, was no different. From the very beginning growing up in Bhekina House to her time growing with the Council in An-Ileyoba, Tarisai is both catching up on everything she’s missed from isolation as a child to finding herself as an independent identity from that of The Lady. She also had and provided plenty of support in her council siblings as they too grew into the identities. I also appreciated that this touched on the idea of carving your own path at various points within the novel. There are so many instances when you can see the characters fighting inner struggles to write their own stories apart from inside and outside influences - sometimes both - and I think that’s a very important lesson to get across for anyone.

"I am Tarisai of Swana," I murmured, "and I've seen your stories now. They belong to me, as mine belong to you. You don't have to help me change the world. But you mark my words; when I get going, this world will change. And you can be a part of that ... or you can stand back and watch."

I don’t think there are enough words to express how much I enjoyed my time in the kingdom of Aritsar. Along with an adventure that doesn't let up and themes of loyalty, familial bonds and purpose, the story also blends important topics like colonization and patriarchy into a beautifully written epic that I was sad to see end. I already miss this world and can’t wait to return back to follow Tarisai and her council siblings for even more adventures.

Rating | 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 Goodreads

[gegenji]

Musings on Post-5.3 Roadmap

So, I’ve had a fun little thought on how the plot of Final Fantasy XIV is going to go moving forward for a while now.

This latest patch did add some wrinkles and new information, but ultimately I think it actually makes my little story path I see in my head all that more... interesting, from a personal literary sense?

I’ve mentioned it on some Discord channels, but I figured I should really just put it down “on paper” as it were. To share, to discuss, and maybe come back to it down the road and see how close or wildly off the mark I was on my ideas.

This will involve some revelations from the most recent patch, of course, so I will be putting the theory beneath a Read More along with tagging the entire post as spoilers. Since it’s only been... a week and a half? Since the patch dropped.

So, my little theoretical roadmap comes in three parts. One for the rest of Shadowbringers, one for the unnamed Garlemald expansion that is supposedly coming up next, and one for the third and “final” expansion before the FFXIV main story ends and all that follows is just fun support stuff to keep the game alive (and bringing in money) for however long afterward.

So, to keep things tidy, I’ll split this diatribe into three parts to match.

Part One: Shadowbringers

With all our heroes back on the Source, I believe the rest of Shadowbringers will mostly wrap up the situation involving the Sundered members of the Convocation - like Fandaniel the Fantastical shown in the ending cutscenes of 5.3. Mostly since I believe somewhere it was mentioned that this expansion would wrap up the whole Ascian plot. So I don’t see these Sundered Ascians lasting past this expansion, as that would be counter to the aforementioned goal.

So I imagine that these Sundered Ascians may get some attention, but it’s hard to imagine them having the power and presence of the Unsundered like Emet or Elidibus. Unless - and this is what I think may happen - they pull an upgraded version of the Ascian Prime fusion that is done in the Aetherochemical Research Facility (or ARF, as many lovingly call it). This could serve as the final battle against the Ascians, providing a tangible combat threat for the WoL and their allies as well as handle the Sundered Convocation members in one fell swoop.

And since Elidibus took the station crystals with him when he was absorbed into the Crystal Tower on the First, there’s no way to elevate any of the other fragments of the Convocation members to their positions. Ascians effectively handled.

However, while that handles the Ascian situation, it doesn’t close the circle on Zodiark and Hydaelyn. Zodiark just loses its main core of people who are seeking to release him, as well as the main driving force causing the Rejoinings. That does not mean Zodiark is out of the picture, though, as there remains one very tangible individual who I see playing a major role in the Original Elder Primal’s release.

Zenos. (Not a huge surprise, I know, but bear with me!)

Part Two: Kingmaker

This expansion is dealing with the Garlean situation. The Populares as a united unit has been apparently dealt with offscreen given the ending cutscenes of 5.3. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s some manner of ragtag band of freedom fighters or something that has been trying to cobble together a presence enough to get Zenos off the throne.

This would be our heroes’ “in” to entering Garlemald. Allying with and supporting this group of rebels against the Empire. Bringing in all the “good” Garleans we’ve encountered before, as well as introducing some others. Showing that Garlemald isn’t entirely full of cartoon villains but a nation of varied thoughts and opinions. It’s just the people in charge still adhering to the thoughts and principles instilled in them by the Ascians. The Ascians are gone, but their machinations still continue in this fashion.

The overarching plot involves getting the Populares reformed, fighting with Zenos’ forces, and - ultimately - putting Gaius on the throne instead. Putting him in the position to rule he had always wanted, but after being kicked down and having to make this climb back up. And perhaps senpai will finally notice Nero and he’ll end up as Gaius’ head of scientific endeavors while Cid remains with the Alliance (and perhaps joins the Scions as well in a more official fashion).

With Gaius on the throne, Garlemald would be in a position for peace with the Alliance and the war would finally end.

However, Zenos - as we have seen - doesn’t really care about the throne in the first place. He just wants to have his Grand Battle with his Best Friend. And the ending of Shadowbringers and the entirety of this Garlemald expansion has been setting up for this great battle. He has just been using his forces to entertain the Alliance and his Friend until he can get everything ready.

In the ending cutscenes of 5.3, it was implied that Zenos and Fandaniel were trying to goad Elidibus into showing up. There’s some ideas as to why, but my personal guess is to teach Zenos one of the few Ascian-related things he still doesn’t know how to do.

Rejoinings.

Either during the final patches of Shadowbringers or during this expansion, Zenos is going to figure out how to do this. Perhaps not as cleanly as the Unsundered did it in the previous Calamities, but he is going to. And that has been his goal during all this: to provide that one last Rejoining that will allow Zodiark to break free from His confinement.

Why? Shinryu 2.0. His goal is to harness the power of the Original Primal and seek to bend it to his will for a realm-clashing battle of the gods between him and the Warrior of Light. Whether he succeeds or his hubris finally comes back to bite him and he ends up a puppet of Zodiark, the now-deposed Crown Prince is still going to get what he wants.

And that’s the Warrior of Light having to do the same with Hydaelyn. The two have their great clash, and the Warrior of Light overcomes Zodiark-Zenos. Likely due to the power of friendship and Hydaelyn more willingly giving Her power to defeat Zodiark than Zenos’ forcing himself to replace Elidibus as Zodiark’s core.

This battle drains both Zodiark and Hydaelyn, finally removing the two Old Primals from the game. Things seem like Happily Ever After...

Until the Sound returns.

Part Three: Terminus Reborn

This is the big kicker: Zodiark actually never got rid of the source of the problem that caused His creation and sealed the end of Amaurot. He was simply holding it at bay - a task taken up by Hydaelyn after the Sundering, and perhaps aided by the problem itself also being split across the reflections. But with both Original Primals gone, and enough Rejoinings in place, the Terminus begins again.

This is where I see a literary parallel happening here. The Warrior of Light - also known as Azem, the wanderer and gatherer of stars - has been gathering people to them this whole time. The Scions.

And while they may not be exactly the same, and certainly don’t have the power, knowledge, or resources of the Convocation - due to not being Ascians, not having the station crystals, and not being in a similar position of power - there is enough of a similarity that one could compare the Scions to a New Convocation of sorts. Perhaps even taking up similar roles in the group dynamic - such as Cid fulfilling a Lahabrea-style position or something. Or Tataru being the Emet-Selch. Or even being identified as the counterparts like in the Scions of Light/Darkness in FFXII.

However subtle or obvious they make it, the full circle is here. The “new Convocation” has to deal with the threat of the original Convocation. From a far more perilous position and unable (and very likely unwilling) to just do a repeat of the past by summoning a new Zodiark analogue.

So the Warrior of Light does what they (and Azem) do best. They travel the world, gathering the help and knowledge of people all over to find out a way to defeat the problem. If there are any parts of the Star (would it still be called Hydaelyn at this point with Hydaelyn gone? Who knows) that have been left unvisited, this is the expansion it happens. New World, Meracydia, etc.

Through this, the true cause of the Sound is discovered (perhaps a previously unknown side-effect of Amaurotine Creation/Primal summoning) and a solution is found and implemented, saving the world. And showing the Sundered races having surpassed the Amaurotine they were fractured from by solving the problem they could not.

Expansion ends, and then all the future content is more or less just fun side stuff or other mini-conflicts that take place on the Star now that the threat of the Ascians, of Zodiark and Hydaelyn, and the Terminus are all resolved.

==========

And that’s basically my thoughts on where I could see the plot going, based on what I’ve seen and what thoughts I have had based on the information that’s been provided. And some adjustments and additions/omissions based on the Discord conversations I mentioned at the very start of all this.

What do you think? Seem plausible? Too far out there? Do you see things unfolding in a different way?

I’d love to see what others think - both of my idea, and their own ideas for how the plot of FFXIV will continue and ultimately conclude.

[maulieber]

My thoughts on Phantom Apprentice

Warning, VERY unpopular opinions, swearing & spoilers, proceed under your own responsibility.

I think this episode’s providing us with a fucking lot of information, in a very subtle way, so this is going to be hella long.

Maul’s anxiety and frustration

First, we come to see a Maul that’s anxious, very anxious about Sidious plan. He’s like acknowledging the plan is actually going to be executed and he’s suddenly realizing the vastness of it and the implications it has. And probably, that it will affect him as well, since he’s no longer a sith apprentice and thus the order to kill the jedi will also include kill Maul.

I LOVED his pause between the Darth and the Sidious, because it shows us two things. First, he’s fucking scared of sidious and with good reason, because he’s perhaps the only one in the whole galaxy that actually knows him and knows what he is capable of doing. Second, because of the plan itself. I honestly think Maul realizes that the plan’s fucking crazy and that he must warn and actually help other force users to stop Sidious.

Ahsoka’s blindness

The problem: since he’s the baddy, no one listens to him. I liked how Ahsoka was at first like “ok, I see your point, let’s do it”, until anakin pops up in the conversation, then she’s just in denial and completely blinded about him and then she turns against Maul. this is plain stupid on her. Especially because Kenobi had already told her that Anakin had killed Dooku, thus giving her a reason to doubt of Anakin’s pure heart. 

We see Maul completely desperate to find someone to actually listen and help him, and the only one that shows up, Ahsoka, isn’t willing to help in the end. I bet Ahsoka in the end will feel very guilty because Maul was fucking right and she could’ve done something to help and she just didn’t.

Anyway. 

Recruitment speech

In my humble opinion, I don’t really think Maul was actually recruiting Ahsoka to be an apprentice. I think he was just saying ‘let’s team up’, and then we’ll see what happens.  I think this is clear in the fact that he says “the padawan needs a lesson”. He called her a padawan, thus implying he’s not making her his apprentice, and also, calling her short-minded by putting her in her former role as a jedi padawan, when he knows she had left the order.

The syndicates

Maul tells the syndicates leaders to hide. This is very important, but we’ll get on it later.

Gar Saxon

Ok so to me Gar Saxon is by far the one that lost the most in these events. First, I think he’s really the most loyal to Maul, the way some kind of lawful-good characters are, following their leader because he ultimately thinks he’s the right one. He even customized his armor to put the horns on it, like holy shit, he admires Maul to death. 

Maul ultimately betrays him, I think it’s actually a part of his plan. Probably Saxon feels so betrayed it makes him join the Empire in return, instead of fighting for Maul’s followers. Remember Saxon’s the Empire’s puppet after this events until he gets killed in Rebels.

Rook Kast

Well everyone knows Rook’s a favourite of mine. I think she’s an interesting character and probably much closer to Maul than anyone. With this I’m not implying there’s any kind of romantic involvement (i’d love to, though), but anyway I think she’s his right hand and the only one Maul trusts enough to share his complete plan with. 

Also I believe she’s the one waiting for him at the ship, so you know. She already saved him one in Son of Dathomir (also, did you notice there was a reference to it in the episode??) and she’s doing it again because she’s probably her bodyguard.

She is also the spokesman with the syndicates, as we see in the end of Son of Dathomir and in the previous episode, when Almec tells her to call the syndicates and put them to date.

Bo Katan

Funny, we see her complaining about the “occupying forces” in Mandalore. BITCH YOU BROUGHT THEM THERE WHAT DID YOU EXPECT. YOU ARE RUNINING MANDALORE, NOW FUCKING SWALLOW THAT.

Almec

He was obviously going to be killed. I never liked this character much, but I kind of respect him more ever since last episode when he actually fighted Bo-Katan like a fucking boss in spite of how old he is.

Maul and Kenobi

This is totally a random thought I keep having, but I kind of believe Kenobi knows Maul’s plan. My guess is that he thinks he can handle Anakin on his own, thus he sends Ahsoka to help Maul deal with Sidious? 

Also, there’s something Sam Witwer said about “something that we didn’t know happened happening”, and it hasn’t been revealed yet. I have a few theories on it but I prefer to share them in another post.

Maul’s paradigm swift

This is the really important point in the episode. Here we see Maul actually being mercyful (sparing Jesse’s life, for fuck’s sake!!!!!!!!!!!!), and actually letting bo-katan go help their soldiers occupying Mandalore. This is really something new to him. I was honestly impressed. Also, in this scene we get to see hints of Rebels Maul, I think he subtly is playing a joke on both Ahsoka and Bo-Katan in the way he speaks to them. 

Also, we see him trying to do what’s correct. It’s obvious he’s terrified of Sidious. It’s obvious he’s not happy doing this, he’s anxious and we get to see him truly desperate. But still, he keeps trying. He says his plan was to lure kenobi, since kenobi isn’t there, he tries to talk to ahsoka. He even offers her a second chance, allowing her to joing him and escape with him in his ship. 

Honestly, perhaps he hopes that, after killing Sidious, he’d try to have the Galaxy under his ruling, but i don’t think it’s hinted at all, it’s just Ahsoka saying it and nothing more. He’s like WHAT THE FUCK I’M PUTTING MY LIFE IN THIS GIRL.

The ‘let me die’ line

That’s when he has the mental breakdown. I honestly don’t think he’s suicidal or that he had planned on dying in this battle at all. My thoughts are that he’s just so frustrated about his plans not working out the way he wanted, and Ahsoka don’t listening, even he warned her, even he’s trying FOR ONCE to do what’s correct. 

He’s just venting his rage and throwing a tantrum. I’m sure he’ll regain his composure in the next episode and he’ll still try to do what’s correct.

Also there’s lot of self-killing in this show (for example, the first time the Death Wath is presented), and recklessly putting one’s life on threat for the greater good (in like, every fucking episode?). This is definetely NOT a kid’s show. There is a lot of death, drama and blood here. 

****

Ok this was long and I’m sure I’m forgetting stuff.

I think this adds a lot of depth to The Twin Suns. If I’m right and Kenobi knew about his plan, no wonder Maul would feel betrayed. I hope we get more insight on this soon.

What I liked:

Maul trying to be a hero and not being so good at it, but I think it adds humanity to his character and that’s what I love.

Maul sparing Jesse’s life

Gar Saxon being so loyal

Rook Kast speaking. Anything Rook does is fine to me.

Maul being emotional and frustrated. Again, I think this adds to his character. I confess this is what I wanted to see.

What I didn’t like:

Maul betraying Saxon, in spite of him saying “die well, Mandalorian”, like acknowledging his creed and his way. 

Almec being killed. Not good.

Bo Katan. Man I hate her. I hate her so much.

I’m still not happy about how the Republic army is in Mandalore illegally and nobody complained about it. Guys, that’s plain imperialism, colonialism and fascism. You can call it the way you want, but you can’t deny the truth.

Man I can’t wait for next episode. If my theory is true I’ll fucking die. I’LL FUCKING YELL AND YOU GUYS WILL HEAR ME.

Thaks for reading. I hope you understand these are my personal thoughts and opinions and I’m not willing to receive hate mail like I did with my thoughts on last episode, so if you just don’t like what I write feel free to unfollow and block me. 

[decadentrpg-blog]

WELCOME BECKY, YOU’VE BEEN ACCEPTED FOR THE ROLE OF PROSERPINA BLACK

Admins Note: The Queen of master manipulation has arrived and I couldn’t be more excited! I absolutely adored the power and ambition that your Proserpina exudes. But as high and mighty as she is, every queen has their weakness too. She speaks sharply, glistens like a diamond and commands attention as any Black could. I can’t wait to see the schemes she creates and the strings she threads across all who fall for her ploys. Your faceclaim request for Vittoria Ceretti has been approved. Congratulations on your acceptance again, please make sure to head your way to the checklist and submit your account within the next 24 hours!

OUT OF CHARACTER.

Name / Alias: Becky

Pronouns: she/her

Age: 21

Timezone: PST

IN CHARACTER APPLICATION.

Full Name:

PROSERPINA. In actuality, is there a more suitable moniker for her than Proserpina? A woman in two parts: sweet Spring, the perfume of roses blooming from the heart of her, wildflower honey tone, and cruel Winter, the carmine of her lips turning morbid with fanged smile, poison steeped words cocked and primed. An ode to a goddess who is all cycles and rebirth, manipulating herself to be everyone’s dream of spring, only to reveal a heart of desolate winter; she wears both flowers and sin equally well.

EVE. God’s beloved creation, the world’s first woman, crafted from flesh and bone of man — by man’s account, a woman who had it all: paradise, the love of a God, the adoration of a husband — and the first to gamble it all for knowledge. By any and all means, Proserpina can relate: what good is having it all without the fear of losing it all? Sugar tastes all the sweeter after acid, as victory is to loss. She embraces the implications of her middle name with pride — if it were her in Eve’s place, she’d have eaten the apple whole. And so, she is what she is called: temptation’s mistress, creation divine, agony’s sweet kiss.

BLACK. The most noble and ancient House of Black. Toujours Pur. Always pure. It’s a mantra that’s been repeated over and over, all but branded into every recess of her brain. She is very much the pinnacle of her house’s ideal — dark hair and romantic features, sharp in all the wrong ways and beautiful in all the right ones. Beautiful, empty beasts, does the House of Black raise, and she is no exception.

Sexuality: “Bisexual” — She hardly likes to define such things as pleasure, which to her, is without boundaries: and as Oscar Wilde once wrote: “To define is to limit.” She doesn’t mind men, both in that she won’t begrudge them their presence, and that she barely heeds them past a certain point, all at once — but she does enjoy toying with everyone and anyone. Simply put, she enjoys cutting her teeth on the fractured egos of men, and enjoys lavishing her attention and affection on the lovelier things in life, namely, women.

Gender/Pronouns: cis, she/her

Hogwarts House: Slytherin ( expounded upon in headcanons. )

Head canons:

KNOWLEDGE IS POWER. A firm believer in the idea that if you have the information, you hold the cards, she was a little bit of a dilemma for the hat during her sorting. Despite the very firm and sure Slytherin she eventually got, the hat debated the merits of sorting her into Ravenclaw — purely for the half-starved approach she takes to all things learnable, gorging herself on knowledge, insatiably learning. She was always near top if not top of her classes in Hogwarts, but her quest for knowledge hardly stopped at classroom limits; any tidbit about anyone was considered useful and interesting, and stored away for further examination. After all, you can’t be a mastermind if you’ve no mind of your own.

POWER IS POWER. And yet, ultimately, she was sorted into Slytherin. Knowledge is nothing if you don’t know how to convert it, how to wield it, weaponize it. She may share traits with Ravenclaw in her pursuit of knowledge, but rarely, if ever, is she satisfied with leaving her knowledge in theory, in abstract — no, knowledge in practice is what delights her most. A well uttered spell, or a difficult non-verbal cast, or even the right whisper in the right ear — knowledge is nothing but a whimsical theory if not put to use.

It’s this inborn cunning and ambition that surely sees her into Slytherin.

HEIR UNAPPARENT. The elder sister to a single brother, she hardly is slated to inherit much more than the Black name, although she is privy to the deep wallets it comes with, until, at least, she’s married off into some other pure-blooded family. And yet, it was soon apparent to her as it was to her parents that her brother could barely hold a candle to her own mantle of manipulation and conquest. And so the deal was struck after her graduation, perhaps to both her father’s dismay and begrudging pride: he would turn a blind eye to how she conducted affairs and who she consorted with, and she would manage the Black empire from the shadow of her younger brother, ever watchful, and ever-present to insure that their fortune never diminished, even as he ruled in name. It barely bothered her; the shadows were where she best operated — far less scrutiny. After all, what was one more puppet to her collection? Aelius would appreciate the company, she was sure.

She’s been sent to New York to scope out the possibility of expanding business over to the Americas, and it’s a rush, gambling with the family name and fortune. After winning for so long, she imagines failure must taste sweet — the only flavor she’s never quite sampled, only knowledge she’s not quite accrued — and that subsequent victories would be even more so.

GRACE OF BIRTH. Proserpina was born on May 22nd, making her a Gemini. Gemini’s are witty, charming and resourceful, but commonly reviled for being two-faced. Known for fun wordplay, Proserpina takes that trait to another level, subtle barbs laced across the flat of her tongue, sharp enough to flay the flesh off any unsuspecting person who gets too close. She incites and thus is insightful; she wields words as one might a sword or a wand.

The twins Castor and Pollux rule over Gemini, and so represents the inherent duality of her — both serpent and flower, both spring and winter. Intelligent and adaptable, Proserpina can read the room and anybody in her line of sight like no other. Listen closely, and people will tell you how to conquer them.

STYLE, NOT FASHION. Proserpina rarely cleaves to society’s fashion standards; this is to say she is not fashionable, no, never one to be influenced when she can be the one influencing, but also to say she is never out of style. Expensive cuts of jewelry are commonly found tastefully adorning her figure, as are luxurious cuts of mink and ermine, and dark swathes of silk and velvet cling lovingly to her like a second shadow.

WANDLORE. Yew wood, dragon heartstring, 12 ½ inches, pliable — an unusual wand by all means: deceptively dainty, elegant, light in coloration, but a powerhouse when it comes to spellwork.

Yew — a rare wood, with a rumored predilection for the dark, and a notorious dislike for mediocrity and timid owners, hewn from a tree that is all at once long-lived and life-sapping with its toxins. It’s a contradiction wrapped in shadows, perfect for her, by any stretch of the imagination. That said, Proserpina tries to minimize usage of her poisonous wand, powerful though it may be.

Dragon Heartstring —  known for being a particularly strong and flamboyant core, it’s quick to learn, much like its owner. And much like her, the wand derives its power from the core, able to master spells quickly and executing them without hesitance.

Pliable — wands are known to be extensions of their owners, and whilst stubborn and inflexible in her ideals, Proserpina is undoubtedly adaptable, always landing on her feet, no matter the situation. Such is the life of the eternal victor.

HIGHEST HEIGHTS, DEEPEST DEPTHS. Proserpina’s patronus is a fox: naturally cunning and brilliantly charismatic. People with foxes as their patronus are known to be observant, ambitious, and manipulative. Silver tongued, and willing to use other such skills to their own benefit, the fox often gets their way. It’s fitting for her, is it not? People watch as the fleet footed vixen erupts from the tip of her wand, wiling around the crowd, curling around her heels.

Her boggart happens to be herself — her, but different in several subtle ways, almost imperceptible to any but herself. She sees the wear and tear on her clothes, the hollow of her cheeks, the fear in her own eyes. Her boggart is herself, but ruined. A foolish woman fears nothing, a cowardly woman everything, and a wise woman, herself — secure in the knowledge that nothing will ruin her more than herself.

CONNECTIONS.

FOND // FAWNED. She remembers her first impression of the girl: a little fawn, wide-eyed and on tenuous legs, walking as if she was haunting the halls, quiet as a mouse. It was something endearing, to watch as she grew into the loveliness bequeathed to her. Back then, she was wildly off limits — purely something to keep a keen eye over, a budding flower in the greenhouse that needed the pests swatted away, needed space to grow — but recently, her little doe’s found a voice and a blooming bit of courage, and has come to play. And who is she to deny pretty girls that which they desire?

KINGMAKER. Some people are socially adept, good at reading any room they walk into, good at reading people — and others, not so much. Those who don’t know how to rule shouldn’t, in her honest opinion, but if he wants so badly to play king, then she’ll let him — so long as he never forgets who’s granted him the throne. She plays by chess’ rules: kings are the weakest pieces on the board, mere figureheads. Everyone knows queens are much more valuable — but if he wants to take the flak for the decisions she makes, who is she to turn away a blank check?

HEARTBREAKER. Every connection that Proserpina has ever made serves a purpose, be it for social advancement, business connections, or even simply for pleasure, there is always an underlying motive that serves in her best interest. Her relationship with Genevieve was no different — another bridge to cross or burn, and she thought she was prepared. Not only prepared, but scared to proceed without burning: the closer the relationship got to not purely serving her best interest, the more control seemed to flee from her grasps. So she broke it off, expecting never to look back, and yet as Orpheus could not tear his eyes from Eurydice, a backwards glance was all it took to doom her once more: confirmation that she wouldn’t be able to help herself should the opportunity present itself.

In Character Paragraph:

She sighs when she lands in the fireplace, brushing nonexistent floo powder off her coat, stepping out into the familiar sitting room, looking for any signs of movement, searching for wards. There is neither scurry nor spell to be found, so she continues out on her way, heels clicking ostensibly loud against the marble tiling of the floor; usually, that’s the way she likes it — to be heralded before her arrival — but she so enjoys catching people off guard, at their truest, if one will, when she has business to attend to, so she slips the heels off and makes her way down the halls of the manor to the study on silent feet. The floor is shockingly cold against the pads of her feet, but it bothers her not — not when she’s single-minded in following the dark hallways of the house to the only point of illumination.

The study door is cracked open slightly, and she pushes in, meticulously careless, letting the door swing out and ricochet off the adjacent wall, eyes on the figure pacing the study. The crashing of the door startles him, and he whips around, blue hex warming the tip of his wand and then slamming into the doorframe next to her head; she turns to see the miniature crater blasted into the expensive wooden frame, and it sends her heart flying with adrenaline, even as she turns back to the man. She could easily repair the damage done with a wave of her fingers, so simple is the spell, but she hardly wants to afford the man any measure of convenience.

“You missed,” she notes instead, stalking closer to him, hips swaying, smile cocked; she, the predator, he, her unwitting prey.

“Merlin, Proserpina,” he swears crossly. “You can’t come sneaking into my house in the dead of night— this isn’t a joke. If a hex hits you, it will hurt.”

“Do you promise it will?” she asks archly, craning forward as he leans back.

He doesn’t dignify her with a response, just turns from her.

“Fine,” she dismisses with a sigh, waving a hand vaguely, moving once more to perch on top of his desk, errantly pushing stacks of scrolls and tomes to clear a spot for herself, uncaring of the mess she makes. “I’m here for business anyway, not pleasure.”

“Then you should have owled,” he says coldly, his back insistently to her, as if in hopes of dissuading her stay. He peers at the spines of all the books lining the shelves, eyes flicking over each worn title with a nervous celerity that tells her he’s not actually looking at them.

She takes advantage of this lapse in attention, shuffles through the papers on his desk; this prompts his concern, and he turns around. He starts with long strides over to her, a warning on his lips, a frown brewing in the purse of his lips — but not before she finds what she’s looking for. She holds the envelope between her index and middle finger, displaying the wax seal of her family, tilting her head to the right, unimpressed. “I did,” she drawls, impressing her point further most unnecessarily. “I don’t take well to being ignored.”

He moves to grab the letter, and she jerks it away from his grasp, raising her eyebrows in reproach.

“No, no, darling,” she coos, all sucrose condescension. “This letter was a limited time sort of offer, and I’m afraid my patience has quite expired since.”

Silence swells, stifling, between them, as she holds his gaze, and he hers. He doesn’t want to back down, that much is evident — and yet, it becomes increasingly apparent who has the upper hand, and it’s with a sigh that he relents. “So now…?” He asks, swallowing concealed distress.

“Now,” she purrs, contented. “You take what comes. If I say jump, you ask—“

“—I ask how high,” he finishes, disgusted.

“Don’t interrupt me,” she snaps, a voice of poison, honey, and ice, before amending herself with a smile.

“And if I say no?” He hedges, cautious, watching her measuredly.

“Oh!” She exclaims, before dissolving into delighted laughter. “Did I say this letter was an offer?” She asks, revlon red lips bursting with faux-incredulity. “How absentminded of me. I should have said this letter prompted an offer from you, if you’d read and responded in timely fashion, of course — but then at least you could’ve had the reins on making the offer, no? Well, tell you what: why don’t you take a look for yourself, my dear?”

He takes the envelope slowly, gingerly, watching her like he thinks she’ll jerk it away again — she lets it slip from her fingers easily. He reads the first line in alarm, eyes flashing to her face, and she winks. He reads the rest voraciously, before peering at the included photos, a subtle sneer on his lips as his own movements taunt him from the frame; she waits, humming lightly, slipping her heels back on — she can tell he won’t last much longer.

“Still want to say no? I can assure you, I’ve been very instrumental in keeping this from the police and the press.”

“I wouldn’t dare dream of it,” he answers, a forced smile put upon his lips. “What do you need from me?”

“Oh, I don’t need anything from you,” she says in turn, tapping a finger against her smile contemplatively. “Yet. No, today’s little drop in is just to make sure that when I do call, you’ll be ready to respond. You will be, won’t you?”

“As if I had a choice,” he says through his teeth — half grimace, half smile.

“Honey,” she says in mock sympathy, hand wrapping around his bicep, bottom lip jutting out in a pout, before it melts into patronization, baring her teeth in a half-hearted approximation of a grin. “We always have a choice.”

She slides off his desk, landing with a neat click of her heels on marble, already sauntering away, already uninterested in the defeated man left in ruins behind her. “No need to see me out,” she calls over the clicking of her heels, not even bothering to turn to address him, conquest grin on her lips for no one but the dark in front of her to see. “I know my way.”

Extras: I didn’t have the time for any extras, my apologies!

[erhiem]

Zack Snyder Excess is king with such a distinctive filmmaking style that you can watch one of his films from a mile away. His visuals rely on brightly contrasting colors, slo-mo fight sequences, and huge action set pieces, which are quite impressive regardless of the quality of the film. Another Major Component of the Snyder Movie needle drop, which he employs to make his big action sequences more impressive.

However, he does not usually use the original version of the song. Snyder really loves the cover. While this may have led to the low cost of re-licensing, they have become such a Snyder staple to the point that they define their work as much as their over-the-top script and chaotic cinematography. Whether a cover or an original recording, however, Zack Snyder’s musical choices are such an important tone-setting tool that they can really make or break his movies.

While there are some exceptions- man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and Legends of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hul (No, the Owl City song doesn’t count because it was written specifically for the film) – Snyder includes at least one needle drop per film where the song choice is as subtle as a hammer in the face.

Zack Snyder began developing this music trademark with his 2004 debut feature, morning of the dead, is a remake of George A Romero’s 1978 film of the same name in which a group of survivors roam an abandoned mall during the zombie apocalypse. Hoping to be saved, the group “befriends” another survivor, who is trapped in their gun shop in a parking lot, communicating with a whiteboard and a pair of binoculars.

During the montage of the characters’ daily routines, a cover of distraughtPerformed as “Down with the Sickness” Richard Cheese Plays on the soundtrack. Cheese is a lounge singer, so instead of the hard rock intensity of the original recording, Cheese’s version is relaxed and smooth. It’s happy, which is a term that is often applied to the heavy metal music of Not Disturbed. This needle drop is an example of Zack Snyder’s use of music to comedic effect. With shots of swarms of zombies in the parking lot, the song makes the terrifying situation feel normal, a part of the characters’ everyday lives, such as their conversation on the roof.

then came watchman, an adaptation of Alan Moore’s classic graphic novel by Snyder. This is when the filmmaker really started playing with the needle drops of both the cover and the original music, using the song to pack an emotional punch from start to finish. First, we have Nat King Cole While crooning “Unforgettable” the vigilante fought the comedian off an unidentified assailant. The melodious voice and romantic vibe of the song is contrasted with the intense violence on screen as blood slowly flies across the screen and bones ooze out from the skin.

Shortly thereafter, Snyder added Bob Dylanof “The Times Are A-Changing” with a spectacular opening sequence that establishes the context of the vigilante hero group known as the Watchmen and how this world exists in an alternate version of America. The song choice is quite literal as the history of Watchmen is shown changing before the eyes of the audience, but Dylan’s lyrics and unique voice still make it a perfect pairing; The conjunction creates a sense of nostalgia for an unknown past. It is such an impressive use of existing music to play with the atmosphere of the film.

But it crashed with Snyder’s decision to use Leonard Cohen“Hallelujah” on a graphic sex scene between Night Owl and Silk Specter. Cohen’s hoarse voice syncs with each thrust of Night Owl’s hips in the most uncomfortably way that removes any and all sexuality. Perhaps Jeff Buckley’s cover would have made more sense, as it is better for the intimacy, but also the sadness behind the moment. Snyder nearly hit a needle drop homerun but was actually out in the last minute.

He almost recovers from his use of “All Along the Watchtower” Jimi Hendrix Experience The film’s climax, but nothing can really help the movie come back after its “Hallelujah” scene.

However, that didn’t put Snyder down. He continued to layer the needle drop on top of the needle drop in his 2011 film sucker Punch, to the extent that it becomes excessive. Sure, it’s great for audiences to hear a song they know, but there comes a time when music becomes a crutch—as if Zack Snyder had enough faith in the story and its action to excite the audience. is not.

he keeps björk Singing “Army of Me” they have a mash-up Queenof “I Want It All” and “We’ll Rock You,” and he has not one, not two, but seven covers, with songs being re-done by Jefferson Airplane, artisans, puppet, the Beatles, and others. There are only nine songs in the soundtrack. The music gets distracting and clashes with the big set pieces sucker Punch, which includes a dragon-guarded castle and a snow-capped dojo.

The two most notable covers are performed by the film’s lead actress, Emily Browning: “Sweet Dreams (It’s Made Of)” by eurythmics and “Where Is My Mind” by pixies. Both Browning’s renditions are haunting versions of the original songs, and therefore better match the film’s overall tone. The use of “Where Is My Mind” is incredibly on the nose. Slow acoustic guitars and Browning’s sad voice play over a scene of her character, Babydoll, who is admitted to a mental institution. The words “where’s my mind” flow over a shot of him being brought to the hospital, dwarfed by two large guards in white. It provides a very literal explanation of the events at hand.

The cover of “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)” features a babydoll who enters her own version of her dream to escape her harsh reality. In this context, the slow-down version of the dance song feels right while the character floats through the various realities in which she is being used and abused by men in positions of power. Browning’s voice echoes the pain in Babydoll’s eyes as she tries to find a place where she can feel safe in her mind. The music then swells with the booming tone of an organ that echoes a brief moment of catharsis as it settles into a new time and place of its creation.

Sadly, when Snyder began making the superhero films known as the DC Extended Universe franchise, his directing style took an eighties as his complexion faded and needle drops were few and far between.

She’s Up To The “Snyder Cut”, Her Four Hour Version Justice League. There’s also one during Aquaman’s introduction when he gulps down a bottle of wine and runs down a sea wall in the middle of a storm as the waves crash around him. is confronted with the epic nature of the scene and its kinetic energy Nick CaveThe melancholy of “There’s an Empire”, it feels like Aquaman’s own inner soundtrack to his own loneliness. It’s an awkward visual and aural pairing, but it serves to establish the character as more than just muscle.

Interestingly, this is the scene in the original cut. Justice League features instead the White Stripes‘ “Icky thump,” which creates an entirely different tone. With fast drums and guitar riffs, the song’s energy better matches the chaos surrounding Aquaman, and instead of reflecting any of the protagonist’s interiority, it makes him more badass. With Zack Snyder’s musical changes, he is trying to give his characters more depth than in the original film. Although not ultimately successful, it’s fascinating to see how Snyder considers the outside music as important as the score in creating an emotional connection to his characters.

With his latest film, army of the deadOf course, Snyder goes back to his over-the-top roots with an absolutely ridiculous story about breeding zombies, massive set pieces, and an absolutely ridiculous tale about a needle drop who is the cherry on top of a wild ride. As credit begins to roll in and the future looks uncertain, Karounda‘ “Zombie” begins to play, and it cuts the bittersweet tension in half. Snyder again proves to be the king of literal interpretations. It’s eye-catching because it’s such a painfully obvious choice, but it’s also so on-brand that it’s impressive.

Of course, such a choice caused some controversy as the song is actually about the IRA bombings in Northern Ireland. It’s an extremely political tune that’s used as the punchline for the movie, Well, Zombies.

Just as Zack Snyder plays with color to create engaging visuals, he plays with existing music to shape the emotional impact of individual scenes and movies. While his use of needle drops is often silly and too obvious, they are part of Snyder’s allure as a filmmaker who isn’t afraid to take risks. As he continues to make films (a army of the dead An adaptation of the sequel and adaptation fountainhead working), one hopes Snyder stays true to what makes him stand out: a sense of humor and a degree of self-seriousness that can only be described as oddly charming.

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[thornsickle]

What is the end game for Rey and Kylo Ren, and how does it connect to the ultimate fate of the Force in the sequel trilogy?

With ‘The Last Jedi’ only a month away (a month guys!), I thought I would dive into something which might be viewed as a little too far-fetched to be discussing right now, but I think it’s crucial to put this out there before we have all seen ‘The Last Jedi’. Mainly because this could very easily be torn to pieces by the end of episode VIII (which I will embrace wholeheartedly either way, as I am sure that a compelling story awaits us all). So if you think this is all just moot to be talking about at this stage, or you’d rather not think about what will be the conclusion to the sequel trilogy concerning Kylo and Rey, then by all means skip this post. For those still here, I hope you read on and let me know what you think. Oh, and be warned, this is going to be a long post.

What will happen ultimately to Rey and Kylo Ren? At this point, given what has happened these past few months, I think ‘Reylo’, in the broadest of terms, is going to happen. Heck, it’s already started in TFA.

For me the more important question now is not if ‘Reylo’ is going to happen but rather, what is to become of their futures? Will they be together or won’t they? Right now we don’t know, and I don’t presume to know either, but I would like to talk about what could happen on a hypothetical level, given what we know about what type of story this is, and the narrative line, both on a symbolic and spiritual level.

Because to answer the question of how this trilogy will end, we have to ask what it is indeed about. And in order to answer that question, we have to ask what the sequel trilogy has to do in order to further the story of ‘Star Wars’.

The sequel trilogy is, in the end, about the Force.

But you see, I think the Force is going to have a much bigger role to play now, because the lore surrounding Star Wars needs to be expanded upon. We know this is coming because Luke has been trying to find out more about this mysterious Force which the entire saga revolves around, and I think we will get a lot more backstory on it in TLJ, judging by Luke’s books and the Force Tree we saw in the trailer. Heck, he’s on Achto, the original temple of the Jedi; if that doesn’t scream history and hoards of information just waiting to be found, I don’t know what does.

There’s a reason why episode VII was called ‘The Force Awakens’.

But how exactly will they expand upon the Force and how does this connect to the fates of Kylo Ren and Rey?

“Without the Jedi, there can be no balance in the Force.” 

A simple, single line, which appears in the first scene of TFA. An old saying, which finds it’s roots in the original trilogy.

‘The mission’ if you like, for this sequel trilogy, will be to deconstruct this notion, and by the end of episode IX we should be able to see that what Lor San Tekka states here is, in fact, incorrect.

‘Dust’ and ‘the Force’

The similarities between ‘His Dark Materials’ and the notions of ‘the Force’ are not surprising. Both are inspired by religious sources; for Pullman it was Paradise Lost, for George Lucas it was more general, taking inspiration from all forms of religion, but this greatly informs their ideas of their respective sources of power in their worlds. ‘Dust/the Force’, the idea of power, for both these creatives, resides primarily in the idea of faith and more importantly, ‘the consciousness‘. Why is this so?

The fantasy genre for me exists, first and foremost, because we want to tackle the morally problematic issue that is ‘power’. Magic, lightsabers, rings, wands, time travel, super powers, you name it, these are all simply vehicles used to represent the idea of power. However, what makes both George Lucas and Phillip Pullman so interesting, is that their philosophy surrounding power goes beyond that of the classic, cautionary tale about the misuse of power (Harry Potter - ‘horcruxes & Voldemort’, Lord of the Rings - ‘the One Ring’) or how one becomes ‘worthy’ of power.

The biggest similarity between ‘Dust’ and ‘the Force’ is their nebulousness and anonymity within their respective stories. The characters in both worlds have very different ideas about ‘Dust/the Force’, both on it’s purpose and what should be done about it. They are forms of power which ultimately do not belong to either the ‘good’ or ‘evil’. If I was to describe how ideas of ‘the Force’ are to change, I would say that Philip Pullman’s description of ‘Dust’ gives a pretty good idea of where I think this sequel trilogy is heading.

“Dust is a mysterious force of which the powerful people in the story seem to be afraid.”

This quote was taken directly from an interview with Philip Pullman, but what is so fascinating is that he might as well be talking about ‘the Force’ as we know it in Star Wars. In fact, this could be seen as the premise for the entire saga.

Here is the link to said video. From 1:26

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5N6vzZuPy1s

In the prequels, Palpatine’s main goal was to take over the Galactic Senate and ultimately rule over the galaxy. However, he did so in a very politically strategic way; by instilling fear in the public and, by extension, fear of the Jedi. He distanced the public from ‘the force’ and shrouded it in mystery, instilling ignorance in those he ruled over. He went so far as to hide his own identity as a force user in order to do this. By taking this power away from the people, he was able to easily manipulate those around him. This is why he was able to take over and create his Empire as smoothly as he did, “with thunderous applause”. His true power was his perceptiveness; he could see into people’s weaknesses and understood how ‘power’ could be both utilized and suppressed.

Palpatine was intelligent in the sense that he knew ‘the Force’ was a powerful thing, however, as Pullman says in his quote, he ultimately feared it. We know this because, quite simply, he tried to control it; first by extinguishing the Jedi, and second, by manipulating Anakin Skywalker, the greatest force user at that time, into becoming his puppet.

In His Dark Materials, ‘the Magistrate’ exerts its power through similar means; their basic goal is to remain in power by making sure the public never learn of ‘dust’ and its various capabilities. They are responsible for the public’s general ignorance over what ‘Dust’ actually is, they only know it as something corrupt and to be feared. The Magistrate successfully created in this way a distorted image of ‘Dust’, labeling it as something ‘evil’ and ‘corrupt’ (if you like ‘original sin’). This is exactly what Palpatine did to the Jedi; you might as well exchange the ‘Magisterium’ for the ‘Empire’ and you probably wouldn’t see much difference. 

On the other side, the Jedi during the prequels had grown ignorant over the true purpose of ‘the force’ and what ‘balance in the force’ really meant. This is why they ultimately failed Anakin Skywalker during his training to become a Jedi. George Lucas highlights the flaws within the council and we are therefore able to understand why the Republic fell. The Jedi only used one side of the Force, and believed the ‘Dark Side’ to be completely corrupt and therefore not to be embraced. They speak of ‘fear being the path to the dark side’ but ironically, it is that very avoidance of it, that ends up instilling fear of the ‘Dark side’ in force users and therefore sends either themselves or those around them down that path, becoming the very thing they swore to destroy. Philip Pullman also shows this in his trilogy but more on that later.

“Dust is a mysterious force of which the powerful people in the story seem to be afraid.” 

Once again, we return to his statement. At first it may not seem this way, but the Jedi too, in their own way, feared ‘the Force’ and it’s capabilities. Like ‘the Magistrate’, they created an order, a set of rules, a moral code, in order to restrain force users and stop them from being ‘corrupted’. Someone like Anakin Skywalker, who found extreme conflict regarding this concept, was exactly the sort of person who the Jedi feared most of all.

Like ‘the Magistrate’, they grew increasingly frustrated because of their growing lack of connection to ‘the Force’. This is shown most prominently when Yoda states “impossible to see, the future is.” And yet, Anakin sees, with painful clarity, the future and the fate of the one he loves, because unlike Yoda, he does not fully reject ‘the dark side’ and therefore it does not cloud his vision. His connection to ‘the Force’ is very much like Lyra’s ability to read the alethiometer; she sees nothing but the truth, something no one else seems to be able to do. Rey in the sequel trilogy also holds this ability; her version of this comes in the form of ‘visions’.

The Jedi do not fully trust ‘the chosen one’, which means that they do not in fact trust ‘the Force’. Like ‘the Force’, Anakin Skywalker was someone who could not be controlled and yet, this is precisely why he was ‘the chosen one’. TLJ continues these ideas, with Luke fearing not only ‘Kylo Ren’ but ‘Rey’ as well, and I would guess this is because he does not understand ‘what’ either of them truly are, whether they are ‘good’ or ‘bad’, symbols of ‘the Force’ or, if you like for the purposes of this post, ‘Dust’.

It is important to note that one speaks of ‘the Force’ or ‘Dust’, we are talking about it as a whole. The Jedi may have embraced the Force as they knew it, but they didn’t in fact do so fully. Like the Emperor, they feared what might happen if ‘the Force’ was free and unrestricted. This is why we have seen through the saga the fall of both the ‘light’ and ‘dark’ side.

In ‘His Dark Materials’, ‘intercision’ is for me the equivalent of what happens to every Force user in the saga, may they be on the ‘light’ side or ‘dark’ side.

In Philip Pullman’s books, this is of course much more extreme; essentially ‘intercision’ is a form of lobotomy. In literature, lobotomy is often used as a symbol for the loss of freedom and individual thought – just look at Tennessee Williams’ ‘Suddenly Last Summer’ as the most blatant example of this. ‘Intercision’ is essentially the Magistrate’s way of preventing children from embracing ‘Dust’ as they turn of age, stopping from maturing. Instead they transform into vegetative states, with no free will of their own. The separation of the soul and body can also be linked to the concept of dementors in the Harry Potter series. 

Snoke’s manipulation of Kylo is reminiscent of this. He is trying to stomp out the very humanity out of Ben Solo – hence Lor San Tekka’s line “something far worse as happened to you”, alluding to Kylo’s almost Frankenstein-like appearance which harkens back to Darth Vader and his journey. For Kylo however, his ‘intercision’ is not yet complete.

Looking at it from a certain point of view, both the Sith and Jedi prevented their students from developing the complete use of the Force, by allowing them to only use one half of it and, one can argue, only one half of themselves. Although each respective faction states they do this because the other side is ‘corrupt’, it is clear something is incorrect about their analysis, because the Force is in constant flux throughout the saga, unable to settle, perhaps because of it’s misuse by both sides. In ‘His Dark Materials’, this is exactly what is happening with ‘Dust’. At the end of ‘The Northern Lights’ Lord Asriel is able to travel from one world to another, but only by killing Lyra’s best friend Rodger in the process. This causes Lyra to reevaluate both her image of her father, but also of Dust. Unlike Lucas, Pullman shows us from the very first book, that ‘Dust’ is not only being misunderstood by the ‘Magisterium’ but also by those we see as the ‘good guys’.

If the latest trailer for ‘The Last Jedi’ is any indication, Luke may have caught on a little, as it seems he has discovered the Jedi were ultimately wrong about their teachings and beliefs concerning ‘the Force’. Hence his line, “it is time for the Jedi to end.” In Pullman’s books, the adults have a clear misunderstanding when it comes to ‘Dust’, largely because they know so little about it, and more importantly, because they are unable to control it. This is essentially what I think Luke has discovered or will discover in ‘The Last Jedi’.

 “Lyra, who has been told all her life that dust is bad, has seen the adults around her doing terrible things in the name of getting rid of Dust as they think. She undergoes a moral crisis, and thinks ‘if these people have been doing these wicked things and they say that Dust is bad, then maybe Dust is good’.

This is exactly what I think will happen to Rey in ‘The Last Jedi’.

It leads her to connect with Kylo Ren because she witnesses what she sees as the misuse of ‘the Force’. In the original trilogy, the Death Star is the ultimate symbol of misuse of power. George Lucas even rubs this in by making the source of it’s power kyber crystals, which are in themselves symbols of the Force itself. This is heavily implied in Rogue One. This is just speculation at this point, but I believe the Resistance have been mining for some form of kyber crystals on Crait, and were perhaps building a sort of Death Star of their own. I’m not sure though if Lucasfilm is gutsy enough for that, but it would make a heck of a storyline.

With Rey, she sees that the light side of the Force is not entirely what she expected, and finding herself even more lost, wonders that perhaps ‘the dark side’ is not as corrupt as she is being led to think.

Yes, these are two completely different materials, but essentially, they are tackling the same themes. In Rey’s mind at present, there is ‘the Force’, but she is not yet aware that previous force users saw different ways it could be misused. Like Anakin before her, she will discover that her use of ‘the Force’ would have been seen as ‘corrupt’ by the Jedi, firstly because, on a practical level, she has not been trained and has little control over it, and secondly, because she utilizes both the Dark and Light sides of the Force. The several examples of this during TFA (see links below for examples). 

http://sakurau121.tumblr.com/post/147314934255/im-calling-it-rey-is-going-to-turn-to-the-dark

http://sakurau121.tumblr.com/post/152902112780/so-heres-yet-another-theory-of-mine-about-how

http://sakurau121.tumblr.com/post/154378487925/reys-introduction-to-the-force-in-tfa-and-the

My opinion remains open, but these just give you observations on Rey’s use of the force.

I think one of the reasons why she will struggle with Luke, is because she will find his teachings restrictive. Luke’s ‘fear’ of Rey is completely justified, because, as we have established, the ‘adults’ in the fantasy genre often fear the young because they represent what is to come – the future of power. They fear this ‘force’ because they do not understand it. This is why, as Pullman shows, power is not just abused by the ‘bad guys’ but by the majority of the characters in his stories because they seek to exert control over ‘power’ itself (in his case ‘Dust’). This is what ‘His Dark Materials’ has most in common with the philosophy of Star Wars because all the force users in Star Wars also seek to control ‘the Force’, one way or another (which turns out to be their biggest mistake).

“Everything that is consciousness – human thought, imagination, love, affection, kindness, good things, curiosity, intellectual curiosity.”

 This is Pullman’s description of ‘Dust’ and interestingly, there are many elements there which refer to both the ‘light’ and ‘dark’ sides of the Force. ‘Curiosity’, for example, is something which Yoda in fact tries to suppress in Luke – “there is no why”. Luke’s natural curiosity in the world around him, the possibilities that he sees, is in fact his greatest quality and the reason why he was able to save his father and help him fulfill the prophecy of ‘The Chosen One’. So, what does that say about Yoda and what would have happened if Luke had suppressed his true self?

For Rey and Kylo Ren, they will discover, as Lyra did, that power is being misused by pretty much everybody (hence all the characters in the promotion in TLJ being soaked in red). This is unsurprising, as far as ‘His Dark Materials’ go, because most of the characters in Pullman’s books are not necessarily ‘good’ or ‘bad’. Mrs Coulter and Lord Asriel are very good examples of this. Lyra herself is wild and has an almost untameable sort of quality about her, similar, I think, to both Kylo and Rey.

 The power struggle between the old and new ways of thinking is not necessarily something new. In the original trilogy, Luke defies his masters because he does not agree with them. Once again, I think this will be repeated in the sequel trilogy. After all, fairy-tales in the end are about parents and children, and how children ultimately must move on and evolve, separating from their parents. The future must prevail, and progress cannot be stopped. Change inevitably happens, and therefore, the freedom of independent thought is essential. In Pullman’s trilogy, he shows this in the most powerful way possible, and this is where we delve into what I think will be Rey and Kylo’s ultimate fate. 

Their fate will depend greatly on what happens to ‘the Force’ at the end of this trilogy which is why I’ve been barking on and on about its evolution and meaning in this post. So far, the Force has remained unstable, despite the fact that Anakin Skywalker restored ‘balance’ when he destroyed the Emperor. This is actually a very important thing to remember because it indicates that perhaps ‘balance’ is not necessarily the answer.

The Force as we know it must change and take on a different form. The sequel trilogy in many ways is about wiping the slate clean. I believe this trilogy will bring an end to ‘force users’ as we currently recognize them. Like ‘Dust’, one could argue that if ‘the Force’ had been left alone to thrive naturally and was not manipulated by man, then perhaps none of the events of the saga would have happened at all.

This idea of ‘the Force’ being free, the end of both the Jedi and the Sith, can only be demonstrated effectively enough through our two ‘protagonists’. This has been done before of course, and yes, ‘His Dark Materials’ is one example. This is only a suggestion but I think it’s entirely possible that Rey and Kylo will, in essence, let ‘the Force’ be free and no longer let others control it. It returns to how it was before force users were about. And so, ‘the Force’ as we know it, disappears and yet remains. Like Lyra and Will, Rey and Kylo lose their powers, and therefore, so does Snoke. This is how they ultimately defeat him. Like Noah, they must start anew, letting go of the old world in order to create a new one. However, in order to truly demonstrate the relinquishing of power, they must do one other thing.

 At the end of ‘His Dark Materials’, Lyra and Will are forced to part ways – they cannot stay together. By relinquishing power, they also realize that because ‘said power’ can no longer be controlled, they cannot control their fate either. It is often the case that characters must sacrifice so that they can restore peace and balance, returning ‘power’ back into the world, so that people can embrace it in it’s purest form.

If you want an example of this, look no further than that of Chirrut in ‘Rogue One’. He presents an alternative way of embracing ‘the Force’. Pullman has said that ‘Dust’ needs people as much as people need ‘Dust’. One cannot exist without the other. Which is why that famous line in ‘Rogue One’ makes so much sense…

“And the Force is with me”.

This idea of returning ‘power’ back to the ‘world’ is a very universal idea and can be seen in many different forms. The film ‘Princess Mononoke’ ends with Ashitaka and San returning to their respective worlds after releasing the power back to nature. The forest is no longer as it once was and each must respectively follow their own path but remain connected to one another, even when they are apart. Lyra and Will clearly embody this; they are from two separate parallel worlds but both sit on the same bench each year, aware that the other is close by but still so far away. ‘Spirited Away’ ends with Chihiro returning to the human world; Haku says that he is ‘free’ but they still must part because they have come to the end of their journey together. That film is very much about these ‘two protagonists’ regaining their sense of identity. Sound familiar?

But why must Kylo and Rey part? You may ask.

Aren’t they supposed to meet in the middle and connect to create a new group of force users?

Perhaps. But it would go against everything that I have just said up until now. We cannot forget that while they will connect to each other, they represent opposites sides of a coin, like Ashitaka and San (’man’ and ‘nature’), Haku and Chihiro (‘spirit’ and ‘consciousness’). Ying and Yang, and while both connect to both sides of the Force, they will, in the end, embrace one side a little more than the other. They are two separate beings, and by finding their true ‘identities’ at the conclusion of this trilogy, they remember the past and realize they must do better than those who have come before them.

I do not believe Kylo and Rey will begin creating a new group of force users because they will finally understand the true nature of the Force. It is not something which can be taught; it must be felt and developed naturally, like ‘consciousness’ itself, allowed to expand and mature overtime. We don’t grow up when we begin to listen and do what we are told to do; we grow up when we start to make conscious decisions for ourselves and understand the consequences that come with that. Only then do we begin to know ourselves and therefore become in touch with who we inherently are. This is something which no one can teach you; ultimately you discover this for yourself and in fact, that is the ‘true’ source of power, the true power of ‘the Force’.

Self-discovery, which is what the fantasy genre is all about.

Here’s another reason behind why I think Rey and Kylo will part at the end of Episode IX.

‘Casablanca’.

True, this is not a fantasy film, but it is a story about taking initiative and trying to make the world a better place (famously it was released during WW2 when America was already involved, and this film hailed the idea of ‘responsibility’ and ‘commitment’ during a time when the world was literally falling apart).

 It is a story about ‘redemption’ and I believe that is what the sequel trilogy will be about. The return of ‘the Force’ in its purest form through the redemption of those who use it, and that applies to everyone, not just Kylo Ren.

There are, however, clear parallels between the character of ‘Rick’ and ‘Kylo Ren’, which is not surprising as Humphrey Bogart embodied many traits which harken back to the idea of the Byronic hero, or ‘anti-hero’. As Palminteri said about Bogart, “he was able to wear a white hat and a black hat. He was the killer you sort of sympathised with.” Han Solo IS Rick in Casablanca you could argue, at first passive towards the political climate, hypocritical in the sense that he says he doesn’t care, when really he does.

Naturally, his son embodies this attitude as well and by the end of Casablanca, Rick has transformed his world view after reuniting with the love of his life, who is aptly part of the ‘French Resistance’. Is it only when he pushes her away, that he becomes truly selfless and he finally recovers his true sense of agenda and identity.

This is the key when it comes to Kylo Ren. The only way I believe to truly complete his transformation is for him to do the noble thing and protect the one he loves in the most selfless way possible. This is important because it becomes an integral part of his story arc. This does not however mean that he will die. That would be easy, but the harder thing to do, would be to live with the decisions he has made. This is one of the primary reasons why JK Rowling did not kill Harry Potter at the end of her series. Of course, another reason is because it has been done before, and unlike Darth Vader, Kylo’s story is tightly interlocked with that of Rey, more so than Luke’s ever was with his father.

Ebert describes Bogart thus; “he can play that hurt, that vulnerability, that guy who will never be able to bounce back and at the same time, you see inside of him that idealism. He has this cynicism that says ‘I’ll stick my neck out for nobody’ but at the same time he sticks his neck way out and it was that transition that Bogart was so good at.”

 I have a hunch that Adam Driver is good at this too, and this is precisely why Kennedy cast him as Kylo Ren. I don’t think it’s a mere coincidence that very specific expressionist cinematography was used during Kylo’s scenes in TFA; the use of film noirish side lighting to highlight his inner conflict and split-self, just as Rick is depicted in Casablanca.

Kylo and Rey will part ways but remain connected, coexisting. Ben’s love for Rey will echo the use of the Force by force-users, and therefore both must be relinquished in order to bring true peace to the galaxy. The bright side is it will leave the trilogy open-ended enough so that their story can continue and there is a possibility of them coming together once more, but I also think it makes for the most cohesive ending.

The Force does not need to be balanced, it needs to be set free.

‘Star-crossed lovers’, Rey and Kylo indeed literally will become I think. 

But what do you think? Let me know in the comments and don’t forget to like and reblog so we can get a conversation going. Sorry for the extremely long post :D

[ladylilithprime]

12 - Sastiel

12. Kiss on the nose

(This kind of got away from me and turned into something a bit longer than a drabble. Oops?)

THEY CALLED HIM the Boy King, even now that he was a man. Samuel was the second son of the House of Winchester, left mostly to his studies and to hold the throne in trust during the war with Tartarus in the wake of Queen Mary’s death by a Tartaran Prince, and had never sought the throne for himself until it was thrust upon him by the death of King John. His elder brother had been captured and held prisoner by the Queen of Tartarus as leverage to make a new alliance marriage between the House of Winchester and the House of Campbell in hopes of giving Tartarus ultimate control over the Kingdom of Ziemia and, from there, a shot at challenging King Michael of Ter’d’Ange. Samuel was young, they thought, and surely easy enough to manipulate, and once the bonds of matrimony were set between him and Queen Lilith’s sister Ruby it would not matter if the elder son reclaimed the Ziemian throne for a time until another “accident” could be arranged.

They had underestimated King Samuel and his devotion to his older brother, as they had underestimated his intelligence. The battle that was fought for the soul of Prince Dean was fierce and ruthless and shed very little blood on either side. In the end, Queen Lilith lay dead at King Samuel’s feet and the scion of both House Winchester and House Campbell assumed the throne of Tartarus by right of conquest to cement his right of succession. Upon his release, Prince Dean had surprised everyone by kneeling at his younger brother’s feet and loudly swearing fealty to Samuel, King of Ziemia and Tartarus, as his Knight and champion.

All of this had been thoroughly explained to Prince Castiel, youngest brother of the King of Ter’d’Ange, when he had been selected as emissary from their kingdom to the fledgeling empire ruled by the ruthless Boy King. Ostensibly, he was being sent as support to Prince Gabriel, who was to renegotiate the treaties between Ter’d’Ange and both Ziemia and Tartarus now that the balances of power had been shaken up so badly. In reality, Michael had told him in confidence, he was to ingratiate himself with the elder brother to discover what sorcery held him bound so closely to King Samuel’s rule and, if needed, raise him from whatever perdition he was trapped within and bring him to Ter’d’Ange for sanctuary and healing until he was strong enough to reclaim Ziemia’s throne from the Boy King. Michael all too well remembered the treachery of his own younger brother, who had once been the Light of Ter’d’Ange and whose name was no longer spoken, and feared that the bloody beginning to King Samuel’s rule showed a similar treachery at work. And so Castiel had prepared himself for a ruler hungry for power, cold and calculating and quick with a silver tongue that dripped poisoned honey and empty promises.

He was not prepared for the reality. No amount of rumor or speculation could prepare him for the obvious devotion between King Samuel and Prince Dean, for the subtle deference the King offered to his older brother despite their respective positions. He was not prepared for the shadows concealed beneath strangely mesmerizing eyes, for the subtle flinch at their corners every time someone addressed him as “King” or “Majesty”. And he was not prepared for how, once the meeting was carried into King Samuel’s private offices, the brothers revealed to Castiel and Gabriel that they were all too aware of the real purpose of this visit.

“I told Dean no one would believe that he’d willingly give up the throne to his younger brother,” King Samuel - Sam, he insisted - said with a grimace as he slumped into one of the chairs by the fireplace, deliberately avoiding the more official seat behind the ornate desk. “And after what I did to get Dean back, I’m hardly going to be surprised that our neighbors are more than a little nervous about having me on either throne, never mind both.”

“If you know, then why to you retain the throne in place of your brother?” Castiel couldn’t help but ask.

“‘Cause I don’t want it,” Dean said, all blunt manners and gruff irritation. He crossed his arms, looming beside his seated brother and very much making him look the protective older sibling. It sent a stab of jealousy through Castiel - Michael had never been so protective of any of his siblings - and it took a moment for him to wrestle it down enough to pay attention to the Prince’s words. “Dad may have expected me to take the throne when he died, but I’ve always known I don’t have the head for the crown, not like I need to. Give me an army to lead and a battle to fight, I’m good, but looking after a kingdom at peace is way more Sammy’s strong suit than mine.”

“You call this a kingdom at peace?” Gabriel asked, raising his eyebrows. “He killed the Queen of Tartarus in single combat after ripping through all four Princes and at least two Knights. Takeovers don’t get much more hostile than that, kiddo.”

“There’s not a whole lot I wouldn’t do for my brother,” Sam said quietly. Castiel was struck again by the lines of exhaustion tugging around his eyes. “I will not forsake the people of Ziemia for an empty promise that bitch had no intention of honoring. I doubt Dean would have forgiven me if I had let myself be bound to Lilith’s she-demon sister for his sake.”

“I would have eventually,” Dean protested, though he looked drawn and haunted. The scenario had likely played out in his nightmares over the course of his captivity. “Might have taken a while in between fighting off assassination attempts, but assuming we both survived long enough I’d have forgiven you.”

“Then I’ll be grateful Ruby was too ambitious to play the long game and saved us the trouble, even if she did miscalculate her own charms,” Sam returned with a huff. Castiel and Gabriel exchanged glances; the pieces were fitting together in an interesting way that had the wheels in Castiel’s head turning with the possibilities.

Apparently Gabriel was thinking along the same lines, because he coughed once to draw the attention of the King and Prince, then said, “Look, Michael’s not just going to accept my word that things are good between you two. After Luc’s betrayal, he’s been… reserved at best with the rest of us. Not much he can do to me since I’m still in direct line of succession, but he’s been pretty harsh on Cassie, here.”

“Harsh?” Sam echoed, sitting up straighter in his seat at looking Castiel over more closely. Searching for the signs that Castiel had taken great pains to hide, he realized, and lowered his eyes even as he tilted his head enough for his hair to fall away from the small tattoo behind his ear. He heard the twin intakes of breath as King and Princes both saw the black winged dagger, the mark of one of Ter’d’Ange’s fabled Seraphim, the Crown’s most elite soldiers, spymasters and assassins. “I see. Your task here?”

“To use the cover of Gabriel’s negotiations to ascertain what sorcery had been employed to control Prince Dean and, if possible, bring him to Ter’d’Ange to be broken of that sorcery so that he might regain the crown of Ziemia with the military backing of Ter’d’Ange,” Castiel recited flatly. There was a swish of metal against leather and a flurry of movement by the chair, but Castiel did not raise his eyes. “It was a fool’s mission, even if you had been the power-hungry overlord Michael believes you to be, and all the more so now that I have seen the truth.”

“And what truth do you think you’ve seen that could make you back down from your King’s plot to turn me into a puppet of Ter’d’Ange, Seraphim?” Dean growled. Castiel risked a glance upwards and had to control a flinch. Dean’s thunderous expression was to be expected, but Sam’s weary resignation cut at Castiel’s battered heart much more sharply. He swallowed.

“There is no sorcery at work save for the love shared between you both,” he said quietly. “It’s a love that Michael has forgotten how to feel, would have beaten out of the rest of us if he could, and it is why my mission was doomed to fail from the start.” He hesitated, then lowered himself to one knee, bowing his head before the brothers. “I submit myself to your mercy, in whatever form that may take.”

“Why?” Sam asked softly. “Why tell us any of this? You could have easily kept your own council and gone back without ever letting on, so why explain?”

“Castiel is already on thin ice with Michael,” Gabriel explained, his voice far more sober than Castiel could remember hearing it. “He has too much heart to embrace the Seraphim mentality, and he questions and doubts his orders when they don’t make sense despite Naomi’s ‘best’ efforts. If he returned to Ter’d’Ange empty-handed with only talk of brotherly love, Michael might well have him turned over to Thaddeus. And I don’t know how much of my baby brother would survive that butcher.” There was a pause, but Castiel did not move. When Gabriel spoke next, his tone was wry. “Now me, my job here was obvious. Renegotiate the treaties and try to arrange an alliance marriage of our own with whichever one of you was single and amenable. Our sister Anna’s a little bit of a rebel and probably would have suited Dean well enough, but somehow I think Sam might like Castiel here a bit better.”

“And why should we entertain the idea of marrying my little brother off to Michael’s version of Ruby?” Dean asked, all skeptical sarcasm. Castiel controlled another flinch. Put like that, it did sound rather bad.

“Succession,” Gabriel said. “A marriage of state that can’t produce an heir is valid as a treaty seal, but not as a lock for succession to the throne of Ziemia or Tartarus, giving Sam the control. Even if you made Castiel Prince Consort, Sam would still have to take a second spouse to produce heirs or defer the succession to Dean’s heirs, if he ever has any, which keeps the throne of Ziemia in the House of Winchester. Castiel’s last in line for succession of Ter’d’Ange anyway, and it gets him away from Michael in a way that he can’t overtly protest, no matter how much he might complain about it later.”

“And why would Castiel agree to this?” Sam asked. There was a rustle of movement accompanied by a sound of protest from Dean, and then Castiel felt another’s presence in front of him. He looked up in shock when Sam actually dropped to one knee in front of Castiel to bring them closer to eye level. The Boy King offered a tired, somewhat rueful smile. “Please don’t misunderstand, I am grateful for your apparent change of heart in neither stealing Dean away nor attempting to turn him against me, but why bind yourself to me this way? You don’t even like me.”

“I do not know you,” Castiel pointed out, a little helplessly. He wanted to glance towards Gabriel for direction, but Sam’s eyes held him pinned. Bereft of direction, he struggled to explain himself and hoped it would be enough to support whatever plan Gabriel had in mind. “I… you love your brother above all else, enough that you willingly marched into Lilith’s realm to challenge her for his life, knowing what could happen if you failed. I can barely remember knowing the love of my brothers and sisters, and it never burned as the love between you and Dean does. So bright and pure, one would think your souls entwined.” He saw the surprise in Sam’s face and looked down again, chest clenching. “I know better than to expect you to love me like that… I will have to earn your trust first before I can even begin to earn your love, but the hope that I might, one day, earn even a fraction of that love you feel for Dean… it would be a gift beyond measure.”

Silence reigned for several moments. Castiel feared the drumming of his heart was audible to the entire room as he waited to see how Sam would respond to his awkward declaration. He didn’t dare look at Gabriel, and he couldn’t bring himself to look up at Sam or Dean. He went very still when one of Sam’s hands lifted and moved towards him, shivering when the long fingers brushed a bit of his hair behind his ear, the roughened pads grazing lightly over the ink-stained skin there.

“A love that must be earned is not love,” Sam said quietly, his voice very near to Castiel’s ear, making Castiel’s heart sink. Then Sam’s fingers were beneath his chin, urging Castiel to look up and meet his eyes. There was still so much weariness in his face, and yet his smile was warm and kind. It took Castiel’s breath away, more so than the words which followed. “Trust, you can earn with time, and your candor has earned you much of my trust already. As for my love, well…” he trailed off, eyes flicking down briefly, before meeting Castiel’s once more with a faint glint of animation that might have been called joy before he completely stunned Castiel by leaning in and dropping a brief peck of a kiss onto the end of his nose. “We’ll work on it together.”

And Castiel found himself sending up a quick prayer of thanks to a god he had long feared had forsaken him as King Samuel of the House of Winchester, ruler of Ziemia and Tartarus, helped him to his feet, because as playful as that one kiss had been, it had ignited a spark of hope in Castiel’s heart, and he knew that he would follow this Boy King willingly into Hell and back.

[curious-minx]

Entering into a new dawn of Corporatist Neoliberalism, all while leaving behind a rising Fascist Empire. A solid Bob’s Burgers and a surprisingly decent Simpsons is your reward.

“Fast Time Capsules at Wagstaff School”  once again finds the show operating in the territory it does best: A Poignant twee commentary with the junior Belchers and a nearly pointless sideplot with the adult Belchers that actually sports a satisfying conclusion. The ingredients of a quality kids subplot requires a touch of Tina having the conflict of wielding too much power passed down to her by Mr. Frond whose mere appearance reliably bumps an episode up a notch. This episode not only also weaves the usual Tammy and Jocelyn jealousy games with Tina but also splashes two other of Tina’s peers into the mix: Jim Gaffigan’s Kelsey Grammar indebted Henry Haber and girl friend Sasmina voiced by National Treasure Aparna Nancherla. The episode focuses primarily on Tina’s gatekeeping of the contents of the Wagstaff time capsule. A particularly timely concept for a year where history is a constant 24/7 newsfeed of dramatic historical importance. 

I fold up my muted pink streaked swimming trunks and put them into my personal time capsule. No way will I ever be braving a public beach or swimming hole. The act of exposing any amount of flesh during a pandemic is unthinkable, but in another 50 years I am sure there will be a lot more living to do. The episode goes even further in poignancy with layering a coinciding  Louise conflict over a pair of Boyz4Now lands a lot differently in these Quarantined Times. Never have I related to Louise and her desire to go see a cute pop group sing in an intimate live setting, singing such hits like “Your Heart Fell On The Floor, Let Me Get It For You,” a level of cuteness not even Belle and Sebastian or The Magnetic Fields could probably come up with. The main plot moves along with a clean efficiency of storytelling bringing Louise and Tina conspiring together using their combined sister brain to retrieve the tickets, but due to further conflicting interests. The episode concludes with the characters taking their personal losses and rolling with the punches, which is another central sweet spot. Earlier on the series I felt like the Belcher family were constantly losing and being put down upon by the world around them. The pendulum of justice remains in flux giving the Belchers and friends minor victories, but the last image of this episode really gets to me.  The sight of group of kids  in a parking lot bonding by singing the hit “Someday We’ll Spoon” as it plays off in the distance. Another song title that hits so much harder than it ever could have without the rampaging socially distanced disease.

“If you see a cop, whistle!” - Teddie, and me whenever I see a cop because I always make sure to harass and wolf whistle at cops like they were a piece of construction worker street meat. 

One of my new favorite Bobspressions. 

The B plot with Bob and Linda is essentially that Bob can whistle, but Linda cannot, although Linda can roll her R’s. This teasing and taunting domestic squabble is cushioned by the looming gentle omnipresence of Teddie. Teddie, Bob and Linda are a solid trio and play off each other as characters really well and the repartee between the characters feels a lot looser than it has in past episodes of this season. The subplot culminates in Teddie making one of my favorite comedic moves being dependent on his parasocial relationship with Bob and Linda’s marriage. Teddie is the friend that believes in the love of his friends’ marriage more so than his own friends do and it’s always pretty touching to see Teddie play that card. The adults largely stay completely static inside a one-shot of the restaurant with Bob in the kitchen window, but there is a discernible rise and fall conflict between Bob and Linda that culminates with simple silly sweetness. Once again the adults are left fuddling around in their comfortable boxes and squares they have created for themselves, while the children are foisted out in the world having to deal with Future. 

One other particularly timely one-off joke that the writers would have no way of knowing how timely and off-putting it would be is when Eugene makes a reference to Sean Connery. Gene compares Linda to the late actor responding to Linda on her R syllable rolling flexing. I am sure the writer of the episode felt some kind of something with this episode airing a week after the man died. 

This episode is a Boyz4.5(4)Now. 

///

Thankfully this next episode of the Simpsons did not trot out Mr. James Bont. Episode 5 of Season 32 “The Seven Beer Itch” is a rebound episode from the last three exhausting conceptual excursions. I failed to do a write up on the Season 32 premiere episode, “Undercover Burns,” which I give a Pass (A Pass btw means that you won’t be harmed passing this show through your system, whereas Skip speaks for itself). Both the season opener and this fifth episode are just Simpsons episodes based in and around Springfield. No historical role-play or contrived literary surrogate puppet shows. This episode initially begins filling the viewer with “Simpsons on Holiday” dread opening the episode with The Groundskeeper Willie serving as the episode’s narrator. What’s completely confounding is that Willie has no bearing on the plot of this episode in any way whatsoever other than the fact that both he and UK Treasure Olivia Coleman are both from across the Pond. 

The Simpsons have become one of the most musical series on television, and frankly it  saps away the energy of the when songs pile on top of one another. I know I  should be more wickedly delighted by having The Gosh Dang Favourite singing a pub song to Homer at Moe’s Tavern, but instead these songs make me go dead inside. Especially when Dan Castellaneta has to be a total diva belching out melodies with honey voiced Barney. Maybe if the songs were relegated to once a season or specifically to the ending credit sequence a la Bob’s Burgers that would be one thing, but a song  (or three! Or five!) per episode is simply too busy. Then again “busy” describes everything about the Simpsons in 2020. The show continues to astound me visually with Springfields starry purple skies, brief glimpses of London clock towers served up alongside Marge and kids trip to Martha’s Vineyard. We even take a pit stop in California with Olivia Coleman’s Lily doing a forced, weirdly gentle riff with Leonard DiCaprio (who goes uncredited, making matters even stranger). Overall, modern Simpsons is the nicest looking adult animated sitcom around until Tuca and Bertie comes back on air. That being the said the plots of each episode feel like they are being pulled out of a magic foam wizard’s hat stuffed to the brim with Simpsons conceits. This week the writer’s pull Homer Seduction from out of the hat.

The Homer seduction plot can be traced back as early as Season 3 with the episode “Colonel Homer.” This episode more or less grafts its main plot swapping out a Pretty Country Singer with a Charming British Lady. The songs in “Colonel Homer” were actively related to the plot with country star Lurleen Lumpkins becoming infatuated with Homer Simpson, because he’s, he’s a simple and um sweet man. Homer has fidelity! 32 plus years on the air and Homer still remains the kind of man that will still choose his wife over whatever hot piece of Academy Award Winning voiced action comes his way. 

I will end this review with this image of Homer giving us viewers come hither and fuck me eyes. Imagine an artist sitting down and drawing Homer Simpson giving you this coquettish glance and try not feeling sick with existential dread:

This episode deserves a Pass.

///

Addendum:

A response to Digital Spy and hand wringing queerness out of a cartoon child 

The article in question is available here. 

The journalist of this article insistence that Lisa be a LGTBQ+ icon is understandable, but taking umbrage with Yeardely Smith’ for saying that she views Lisa as a child is queasy and infuriating. Smith isn’t a Karen trying to rob Lisa of her Queer freedom. Lisa’s queerness is innate and subtly woven into the character and explicitly spelled out in future glimpses of the character. I really shutter to think what the Simpsons mostly white and male writers room would concoct for a “queering” of Lisa. Dissecting and analyzing a cartoon child’s sexuality is all fun and games, but the world is also dying and full of real life children, not cartoon characters, in pain far more worthy of our concern. I would much rather there be support for Queer artist making their own adult animated sitcom and let Lisa Simpson just be a little girl that loves as Yeardely Smith calls “girly things.” Interpret this literally. Lisa is a cartoon girl living in a cartoon world and she’ll probably grow up to be a nonbinary polyamorous Super Computer or Sax Master General.

If you haven't already I strongly recommend readers check out Smith’s appearance on the currently defunct podcast Harmontown. In the episode “I Was A Simpson” she comes across as charming and thoughtful and worth a listen. She’s not someone that strikes me as a hateful advocate of queer erasure. She strikes me as a cagey performer not wanting to nail down too many concrete details about her character. Ultimately the writers and Smith know Lisa is a queer character,  but unless the show is willing to hire a LGBTQ+ writer to help create a Queer Coming of Age centric coming of age episode I am content with having her identity be nudged and winked at in glimpses of the future and left at that. Good grief. 

[smokeybrandreviews]

Smokey brand Movie Reviews: Bill Me

A few months back, i gushed about one of my all-time favorite films, Alien. I followed that up with a look at Predator. These films are on completely opposite ends of the the spectrum, but i love them both. Don't misunderstand, i adore Alien much more, it’s a much better film in almost every respect, but Predator appeals to the reptile brain in mean. So what happens when you combine that atmospheric, claustrophobic, dread with the balls-to-the-wall, macho-machismo, of an 80s action film? You get the sequel to Alien; James Cameron’s Aliens. The second outing to LV-426  was a truly interesting one as, while the same world is explored with these two films, Aliens is a very different take on the mythos. So much so, the one might even say it's a better view of that world. Aliens is one of the few sequels that has a solid argument to being better than the first. That is rarefied air. To be held in such high esteem as The Godfather part II and The Empire Strikes Back is ridiculous but, here we are.

The Outstanding

Out the box, I need to immediately recognize Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley. Holy sh*t, is this woman dope in this role. I loved Riley in the first film, coming into her own, learning how to survive, ultimately taking the reins of her own destiny. Her run in Aliens? Complete and total bad-ass. This is the Ripley every one talks about, the version of her that is entrenched in the cultural zeitgeist. This is Ellen Ripley made whole and Weaver executes that visage with such precision and passion, that it earned her an Oscar nomination. That is huge praise considering the type of film Aliens is and the types of films the Academy likes to snub.

Lance Henricksen's Bishop was a true experience. It was weird seeing such a performance on display in an action film. Henricksen imbued Bishop with this childlike naivety, that was all but infectious. His wry humor painted the bleakness of our heroes' plight. Bishop was never over the top, just quietly hilarious when necessary. I was surprised by how endearing that character turned out to be, definitely a credit to Henricksen's overall ability.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention Bill Paxton as William Hudson. Dude is the second best thing about this film. Rest in peace to one of the greatest actors, ever. Hudson was a goddamn quip machine. His one-liners are some of the best to ever make it to film and I love the fact that Paxton delivers them with such extreme fervor. Seeing him completely lose his sh*t was an outstanding watch.

The entire cast is actually pretty great. I love Vasquez, even if they did paint up Jenette Goldstein in brown face instead of actually hiring a Latina actress. It was the 80s. Sh*t like that happened all of the time. Hicks was a little dry for my tastes but I wasn't mad with how Michael Biehn portrayed him. Dude basically did Kyle Reese but not so high-strung and that sh*t works marvelously. Apone was awesome. Al Matthews captures that smarmy, over-the-top, military brass energy perfectly. Paul Reiser's Burke exudes this sleazy corporate scumbaggery like every 80s cliché should. These cats are these characters and the comradely they demonstrate is palpable. The only flaw to this movie is the performance from the little girl that plays Newt. She's awful but she's a kid so that stands to reason. I don't really count her performance against the overall movie because of that fact, but it can be very distracting at times.

James Cameron is in fine form with this sequel. I always joke around, referring to him as the 1980s version of Michael Bay, but it's not far from the truth. Dude is one of the most skilled, technical, directors in the game today and he's been like that since the beginning of his career. The scope of his imagination and the tenacity to find a way to capture that on film is not only rare, but f*cking amazing. Cameron has a way with spectacle, taking a little and turning it into a lot. You see that in his early work with Roger Corman and beautifully displayed with the first Terminator but in Aliens? Mans pulled off a miracle with Aliens. This f*cking thing is gorgeous. It fits together so tight, you'd never know the entire shoot was a slog filled with unwieldy puppets, incomplete props, and constant insubordination from the crew. This movie is a miracle of direction and roved that James Cameron is truly belongs in the discussion as one of the greats.

While I'm on Cameron, I just want to acknowledge hos contribution to the mythos of the Alien lore, overall. He was the one that injected Space Marines and everything that came along with that. The Sulaco, the dropship, the APC; All of that was Cameron. However, the crown jewel of his film is definitely the Queen. That was all him. The reproductive system of the Xenomorph was displayed in the first film, sure, but it was Cameron that gave us the answer to the question everyone asked; Who was laying the eggs?

The writing in Aliens is absolutely amazing. The actual plot is about as deep as a puddle but how everything is presented turned out to be absolutely stunning. This is a war movie. This is an escape film. This is at home with The Dirty Dozen or Cool Hand Luke, on paper. This is a story of survival, framed with a splattering of inter-species violence. I imagine this script was a pleasure to read, even if it's rather straightforward.

I referenced this a little before, but the one-liners and dialogue are top notch. These interactions feel real. These characters feel like people, like they've been on missions together for years. I buy the Marines as soldiers and I buy Ripley as the final girl. The genuine nature of this film is unassailable, which is kind of a miracle, because it's a narrative about space marine fighting xenomorphs! To be so immersed in a world that fantastical is quite incredible.

This film is gorgeous. It too that retro-futuristic aesthetic from the first, and ramped it up to one hundred. This colony, even though it's been sixty years or whatever, fits in the world established by Scott perfectly. The look, the tech, the feel; All of it calls back to the claustrophobic halls of the Nostromo, but blown up to the size of that Space Jockey ship.

While I'm on the general aesthetic, I need to praise these practical effects. Everything is tangible and real in this film. There are no computer fakes or puppet composite shenanigans. Everything is in-camera and real. The Xenos are men in suits, the guns are physical props, and the starships are all miniatures. The Queen is a puppet built to scale and so is the Power Loader. All of that lends itself to the beauty of this movie and it's longevity. I watched this thing today and it holds up against any blockbuster made in the last forty years, beating out most of them with ease.

I touched on this a little bit when I was talking about Cameron's deft direction but these shots are f*cking stunning. You can take any single frame out of this thing and mount it on your wall. This movie is that gorgeous. The cinematography, the scale, the composition of shots; all of it is just so goddamn adept and lovely to see.

The pacing is kind of dope considering you don't see an alien for almost an hour of run time. I'm actually reviewing the directors cut of version of this flick on the Blu Ray because I, personally, like that one more, but, theatrical moves at about the same rate. There is a lot of character development in that first half, much needed I think, but you never feel impatient about it. You're never chomping at the bit to see the action promised on the horizon. Aliens walks that line perfectly. It's great at building your anticipation to the first clash then its all mania and body count after that.

Bro. But this sound design, tho. Bro!

The Verdict

Aliens is actually one of my all-time favorite film, no surprise there. I think the tidbits Cameron added were paramount to growing the world that Scott and O'Bannon birthed. Indeed, it was he who gave us the Queen and hive system. It was Cameron that chose to make the sequel an allegory for the Vietnam war, establishing the Space Marines as a force in space ways. Aliens did more to world build than it did with characterization, and that's saying the most because this is where Ripley becomes Ripley. We caught glimpses of her potential with Weaver's performance in the first outing but she's in full force here, establishing Ellen Ripley as the archetype for the female badass that every one in Hollywood has been chasing since. The practical effects are too dope for words and hold up to this day, while the overall film, itself, is gorgeous. For a feature that heavily makes use of miniatures and matte painting, Aliens is one of the most beautifully shot, cinematic, experiences, ever captured on film. Now, to answer the poignant question at hand; No. I don't think Aliens is better than Alien. I definitely prefer the more intimate horror of the first, rather than the bombastic action of the second. I think Aliens is the perfect action movie, just behind Terminator II, but I think Alien is as close to perfect film making, period, as you can get. That's not to take anything away from the sequel. Aliens is f*cking incredible and definitely stands on it's own. I can't sing this thing's praises enough. It's an outstanding action film, moonlighting in as a sci-fi thriller, while telling one of the best character arcs in history. Aliens is excellent and deserves that aforementioned debate of superiority, even if I, personally, dissent. It should be required viewing for anyone claiming to love cinema. If you've never seen this film, fix that sh*t immediately. F*cking love yourself more.

[smokeybrand]

Smokey brand Movie Reviews: Bill Me

A few months back, i gushed about one of my all-time favorite films, Alien. I followed that up with a look at Predator. These films are on completely opposite ends of the the spectrum, but i love them both. Don't misunderstand, i adore Alien much more, it’s a much better film in almost every respect, but Predator appeals to the reptile brain in mean. So what happens when you combine that atmospheric, claustrophobic, dread with the balls-to-the-wall, macho-machismo, of an 80s action film? You get the sequel to Alien; James Cameron’s Aliens. The second outing to LV-426  was a truly interesting one as, while the same world is explored with these two films, Aliens is a very different take on the mythos. So much so, the one might even say it's a better view of that world. Aliens is one of the few sequels that has a solid argument to being better than the first. That is rarefied air. To be held in such high esteem as The Godfather part II and The Empire Strikes Back is ridiculous but, here we are.

The Outstanding

Out the box, I need to immediately recognize Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley. Holy sh*t, is this woman dope in this role. I loved Riley in the first film, coming into her own, learning how to survive, ultimately taking the reins of her own destiny. Her run in Aliens? Complete and total bad-ass. This is the Ripley every one talks about, the version of her that is entrenched in the cultural zeitgeist. This is Ellen Ripley made whole and Weaver executes that visage with such precision and passion, that it earned her an Oscar nomination. That is huge praise considering the type of film Aliens is and the types of films the Academy likes to snub.

Lance Henricksen's Bishop was a true experience. It was weird seeing such a performance on display in an action film. Henricksen imbued Bishop with this childlike naivety, that was all but infectious. His wry humor painted the bleakness of our heroes' plight. Bishop was never over the top, just quietly hilarious when necessary. I was surprised by how endearing that character turned out to be, definitely a credit to Henricksen's overall ability.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention Bill Paxton as William Hudson. Dude is the second best thing about this film. Rest in peace to one of the greatest actors, ever. Hudson was a goddamn quip machine. His one-liners are some of the best to ever make it to film and I love the fact that Paxton delivers them with such extreme fervor. Seeing him completely lose his sh*t was an outstanding watch.

The entire cast is actually pretty great. I love Vasquez, even if they did paint up Jenette Goldstein in brown face instead of actually hiring a Latina actress. It was the 80s. Sh*t like that happened all of the time. Hicks was a little dry for my tastes but I wasn't mad with how Michael Biehn portrayed him. Dude basically did Kyle Reese but not so high-strung and that sh*t works marvelously. Apone was awesome. Al Matthews captures that smarmy, over-the-top, military brass energy perfectly. Paul Reiser's Burke exudes this sleazy corporate scumbaggery like every 80s cliché should. These cats are these characters and the comradely they demonstrate is palpable. The only flaw to this movie is the performance from the little girl that plays Newt. She's awful but she's a kid so that stands to reason. I don't really count her performance against the overall movie because of that fact, but it can be very distracting at times.

James Cameron is in fine form with this sequel. I always joke around, referring to him as the 1980s version of Michael Bay, but it's not far from the truth. Dude is one of the most skilled, technical, directors in the game today and he's been like that since the beginning of his career. The scope of his imagination and the tenacity to find a way to capture that on film is not only rare, but f*cking amazing. Cameron has a way with spectacle, taking a little and turning it into a lot. You see that in his early work with Roger Corman and beautifully displayed with the first Terminator but in Aliens? Mans pulled off a miracle with Aliens. This f*cking thing is gorgeous. It fits together so tight, you'd never know the entire shoot was a slog filled with unwieldy puppets, incomplete props, and constant insubordination from the crew. This movie is a miracle of direction and roved that James Cameron is truly belongs in the discussion as one of the greats.

While I'm on Cameron, I just want to acknowledge hos contribution to the mythos of the Alien lore, overall. He was the one that injected Space Marines and everything that came along with that. The Sulaco, the dropship, the APC; All of that was Cameron. However, the crown jewel of his film is definitely the Queen. That was all him. The reproductive system of the Xenomorph was displayed in the first film, sure, but it was Cameron that gave us the answer to the question everyone asked; Who was laying the eggs?

The writing in Aliens is absolutely amazing. The actual plot is about as deep as a puddle but how everything is presented turned out to be absolutely stunning. This is a war movie. This is an escape film. This is at home with The Dirty Dozen or Cool Hand Luke, on paper. This is a story of survival, framed with a splattering of inter-species violence. I imagine this script was a pleasure to read, even if it's rather straightforward.

I referenced this a little before, but the one-liners and dialogue are top notch. These interactions feel real. These characters feel like people, like they've been on missions together for years. I buy the Marines as soldiers and I buy Ripley as the final girl. The genuine nature of this film is unassailable, which is kind of a miracle, because it's a narrative about space marine fighting xenomorphs! To be so immersed in a world that fantastical is quite incredible.

This film is gorgeous. It too that retro-futuristic aesthetic from the first, and ramped it up to one hundred. This colony, even though it's been sixty years or whatever, fits in the world established by Scott perfectly. The look, the tech, the feel; All of it calls back to the claustrophobic halls of the Nostromo, but blown up to the size of that Space Jockey ship.

While I'm on the general aesthetic, I need to praise these practical effects. Everything is tangible and real in this film. There are no computer fakes or puppet composite shenanigans. Everything is in-camera and real. The Xenos are men in suits, the guns are physical props, and the starships are all miniatures. The Queen is a puppet built to scale and so is the Power Loader. All of that lends itself to the beauty of this movie and it's longevity. I watched this thing today and it holds up against any blockbuster made in the last forty years, beating out most of them with ease.

I touched on this a little bit when I was talking about Cameron's deft direction but these shots are f*cking stunning. You can take any single frame out of this thing and mount it on your wall. This movie is that gorgeous. The cinematography, the scale, the composition of shots; all of it is just so goddamn adept and lovely to see.

The pacing is kind of dope considering you don't see an alien for almost an hour of run time. I'm actually reviewing the directors cut of version of this flick on the Blu Ray because I, personally, like that one more, but, theatrical moves at about the same rate. There is a lot of character development in that first half, much needed I think, but you never feel impatient about it. You're never chomping at the bit to see the action promised on the horizon. Aliens walks that line perfectly. It's great at building your anticipation to the first clash then its all mania and body count after that.

Bro. But this sound design, tho. Bro!

The Verdict

Aliens is actually one of my all-time favorite film, no surprise there. I think the tidbits Cameron added were paramount to growing the world that Scott and O'Bannon birthed. Indeed, it was he who gave us the Queen and hive system. It was Cameron that chose to make the sequel an allegory for the Vietnam war, establishing the Space Marines as a force in space ways. Aliens did more to world build than it did with characterization, and that's saying the most because this is where Ripley becomes Ripley. We caught glimpses of her potential with Weaver's performance in the first outing but she's in full force here, establishing Ellen Ripley as the archetype for the female badass that every one in Hollywood has been chasing since. The practical effects are too dope for words and hold up to this day, while the overall film, itself, is gorgeous. For a feature that heavily makes use of miniatures and matte painting, Aliens is one of the most beautifully shot, cinematic, experiences, ever captured on film. Now, to answer the poignant question at hand; No. I don't think Aliens is better than Alien. I definitely prefer the more intimate horror of the first, rather than the bombastic action of the second. I think Aliens is the perfect action movie, just behind Terminator II, but I think Alien is as close to perfect film making, period, as you can get. That's not to take anything away from the sequel. Aliens is f*cking incredible and definitely stands on it's own. I can't sing this thing's praises enough. It's an outstanding action film, moonlighting in as a sci-fi thriller, while telling one of the best character arcs in history. Aliens is excellent and deserves that aforementioned debate of superiority, even if I, personally, dissent. It should be required viewing for anyone claiming to love cinema. If you've never seen this film, fix that sh*t immediately. F*cking love yourself more.