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extensionallydefined · 1 year ago

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Okay, so, I need to talk about the relationship between Persona 5's ending and Persona 5 royal's ending, because I think it isn't discussed enough how one puts into question the themes of the other and in doing so it elevates everything that came before.

Spoilers are coming, you've been warned.

The main thing that's given me an outlet to think about this is a few quotes from the Phantom Thieves when they're in the Velvet Room after being Thanos-snapped by Yaldabaoth. Specifically these quotes:

Ann: "I... I never want anyone to have to go through what I did!"

Yusuke: "Just as art is meant to break boundaries, people should be saved even if they frown upon it. I won't allow the justice I believe in to be shaken any further!"

Ryuji: "We're doin' this to make sure people don't go through the same crap we did. It doesn't matter if they think we're just or not. We gotta do what we believe in!"

Futaba: "I can't let people suffer like this, even if I don't know them personally"

They mention some core ideas: 1. They want to prevent people's suffering because of the suffering they've felt. 2. They must do this regardless of if people want it, because they think it's the right thing to do. 3. Their justice is worth fighting for by virtue of being what they believe in.

Does this seem familiar? Maybe makes you think of a certain therapist who shows up in Royal?

I think Takuto Maruki serves a decent amount of purposes narratively and thematically, but one of the most genius things about him is that he serves as a foil to both the Phantom Thieves and Akechi, and in being that foil, he is, deep down, following the principles that the Phantom Thieves fought for - In the end, it was largely Joker who inspired him to fight for his reality.

Maruki fights for a reality where suffering straight up doesn't exist, because he doesn't want anyone to feel the suffering he's had to endure. Maruki wants the Phantom Thieves and Akechi to never feel suffering anymore, regardless of their stance on the matter. He is "saving" them regardless of their wishes, and will fight them to keep the reality he wants. He thinks the world is unfair, so his "justice" is to make a perfect world for everyone - and that's what makes it worth fighting for, because that's what he believes.

Maruki's rationale to fight against the Phantom Thieves and Akechi is (partly) the same reasoning that the Phantom Thieves use to regain their motivation to fight the Holy Grail/Yaldabaoth.

So, narratively, Maruki serves as a mirror that's telling things not to be told for the Phantom Thieves to look into and to see the ugly parts of their own way of acting. Can they really fight Maruki, knowing that he is just acting how they did?

I see people sometimes refusing Maruki's reality because it "wouldn't actually work" or "it's imperfect". But as far as I'm aware, it's imperfect because it hasn't been completed yet - I think the game is a lot more interesting under the pretense that Maruki truly has the power to erase all suffering, once his reality is complete, past the deadline. I also see the argument, and even the game uses it, that Maruki's world "isn't reality". But did we listen well to Morgana's speech before he disappeared in the Yaldabaoth arc? The world itself is made up of cognition, reality is born from the points of view of everyone. Maruki *can* change reality, and the real question of the game is not about the logistics or "ontological dignity" of his reality, but rather - Do you want a world where all your wishes are granted and no suffering exists?

In the end, the game shows the Phantom Thieves that "sticking to their justice" will make them fight against people with similar ideals as theirs. It's funny, in a way, how Akechi was the one fully willing to fight Maruki from the start. His rebellion has always been more individualistic in nature than the Phantom Thieves' - he wanted revenge for himself, then redemption for himself and now he wants a reality where he isn't under anyone's control anymore. To him, Shido's country, Yaldabaoth's ruin and Maruki's world are all the same - Maruki just has a nicer, more therapy-speaky way of presenting his proposal, and sees people as his equals rather than as insolent masses, but his goal is the same. They're all worlds that shackle you for the "greater good". And in the end, Maruki, and Royal, force the P5 gang to become more like Akechi - to value their individuality in the face of the public's "justice".

To fight for what you believe in you will face people with the same determination as you. They will be your equals in many, many ways. In the end, you can only stick to your guns and hope that what you believe in is worth more than what they believe in.

I have a lot more to write about these topics but I'll leave it there. Maybe about the relationship between Maruki's reality and individuality next? That could be fun ^^

Btw - Special thanks to @thedaythatwas for inspiring me to write up stuff about Persona 5 Royal!

#persona 5 #p5 #p5r #persona 5 royal #persona 5 spoilers #takuto maruki #dr maruki #p5r maruki #akechi goro #goro akechi #writeup #damn this turned out long as hell

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adragonsfriend · 1 year ago

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Padme was not a Witness

I will never join the “Padmé was stupid to go to Mustafar” parade—she had valid reason to believe in the possibility of Anakin’s redemption—but there’s something awful in the fact that she didn’t have to witness either of his massacres.

Obi-Wan and Yoda walk past the bodies of their people—of their people’s children. Bail Organa goes to the temple and sees a kid get shot down trying to escape (more clones than Anakin, but still).

Padme hears about the second massacre after sitting in her apartment while the Temple was on fire. She’s told about them in vague terms. “I killed them like animals,” “he killed younglings,” She has a touch of denial when she goes to Mustafar partly because of her belief in Anakin, but partly because—I think—the Tuskan Massacre was never fully real to her. She understands it intellectually of course, but violence on that scale is difficult to conceptualise without seeing it, especially if it’s easier to just let it go. If she’d seen the bodies? Or seen Anakin kill them? She watched that one refugee kid die slowly, not at all violently, when she was working with the refugee organisation, and it affected her for the rest of her life. It is not a lack of caring on Padmé’s part that’s the problem.

Imagine being Obi-Wan listening to Padme saying “there’s still good in him,” after walking through the Temple, seeing the lightsaber marks on knights and children alike—not even to mention seeing her get strangled. It sounds not only wild, but honestly deeply offensive on more levels than one (besides the obvious issues it’s another, “train the boy,” prioritise Anakin over everything moment, except this time Obi-wan’s entire world has been torn apart, rather than just losing his Master)

If Padmé had actually been a witness to Anakin’s violence? If it was made present and visceral to her?

I think her opinions and her actions would’ve been different.

Thematically, it is crucial that when Luke goes to the second Death Star, he is under no illusions about who Anakin is or what he’s done, and in his most desperate moment he chooses to ask Anakin for help anyway. Padmé goes to him still a bit in denial, still a bit convinced things can return to how they once were. When she starts to push at the illusion, Anakin accuses her of betraying him and strangles her to shut her up, attempting to preserve the illusion (the difference between Anakin’s state at the time of his confrontations with Padmé and Luke is a whole other, very important topic). In part, her illusion allows Anakin to believe he can preserve the past (to be clear—he is the only one responsible for the choice to strangle her; Padme being imperfect is not an excuse for domestic abuse).

Side note, but if anyone is not sufficiently freaked out by Anakin strangling Padmé, it's important to know that strangulation is one of the flashing red warnings that physical abuse is doing to turn deadly, very, very quickly.

Luke’s complete and honest knowledge of Anakin’s worst self means there is nothing for Anakin to lose except his son, exactly as he is. No illusions, no wonderful past, not even any good memories together. Just his son.

To me, that’s one of several reasons (both thematic and logistical) why Padmé’s plea fails where Luke’s succeeds. None of those reasons has anything to do with her being stupid to go in the first place.

(There are some wonderful fanfics out there that show Padmé actually making her disapproval about the Tuskan massacre—both despite and because of her love—actively known during their marriage, and I think that interpretation of her is a stronger character than ROTS gives us, and more in line with what we’re shown in the first movie)

#star wars #padme amidala #obi wan kenobi #yoda #anakin skywalker #bail organa #luke skywalker #tw child death #tw violence #tw abuse #tw abuse mention #tw physical abuse #krayt meta

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adhdo5 · 5 months ago

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Tbh. Okay hm. I def follow the general notion of "LXC yearns to be a trophy husband" and I don't really disagree; this works out both on the level of LXC being ~a romantic and on the level of LXC having been expected and given the exclusive option of sect leadering all his life for one and it's absolutely Themes wrt the whole shedding societal expectations to be a guy in love thing, right, like this is a clear vision. However I think it does generally also underestimate just how #entrenched LXC is emotionally and logistically both (many such cases)?

Like despite it all it's not like we ever get evidence that he dislikes or would hand off his job; even in seclusion he's showing up attempting to do sect leadering in Family Banquet literally while he's too depressed to think straight. He clearly genuinely cares a lot about the duty he has and while that's def nonzero out of obligation and he sure may drop this when released from it I have a hard time imagining him dropping it entirely. He'd be different thematically situated if he wanted to and could, y'know? Like, it puts me to mind of postcanon takes where LXC unambiguously regrets killing JGY specifically – it's not that I think he doesn't regret it it's that it's not that simple! LXC, like JGY, very much prioritizes something that is, thematically, futile to prioritize, and I think just skating over that tension makes it ~too easy and is a bit of a flanderization in this way. LXC's life would be a lot less difficult if he could give up a major section of his moral priority as such but it's kind of the point of his character that unlike LWJ he can't!

#This isn't abt any take in particular it's about the spectre of LXC Years To Be A Trophy Husband as a take in general #Which again I don't even disagree with directly #I just think it's complicated.#Lan Xichen #Xiyao #Thoughts? Is this anything. If you think I'm being stupid lmk I want to Talk so bad #I have two things in my drafts where I'm drafting a response to some fucking Post or another it's dire

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mc-cookies · 5 months ago

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Golems and Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy

I did a writeup about how a character based on the Jewish folkloric golem might work in Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy! It includes a short essay about the thematic implications of the golem, and a set of custom rules for living dolls made of unfired clay.

If you don't know what Eureka is, it's the first tabletop RPG by @anim-ttrpgs, an up-and-coming indie studio making carefully designed and rigorously playtested tabletop games outside of the D&D 5e ecosystem. Eureka is a system for stories where amateur investigators look into intricate and (sometimes deadly) mysteries, trying to get to the bottom of whatever conspiracy is at hand. It also has robust rules for a variety of supernatural phenomena that may or may not exist, letting players explore the thematic and logistical implications of people who are vampires, man-eating alien shapeshifters, supernaturally animated dolls, or a variety of other strange creatures. It's one of the best RPGs I've ever played or read, so if you're interested in finely crafted tabletop games, mystery and detective stories, social commentary on the rights of "unsavory" marginalized people, or just supernatural creatures that eat people, I'd recommend checking it out.

My writing under the cut!

(I wouldn't normally post my own long-form writing here, but I felt good about this and also couldn't pass up an opportunity to talk about Eureka. This isn't very polished, so ignore any typos or awkward wording, but feel free to check it out and give your own thoughts. Enjoy!)

Thoughts on golems in Eureka (Essay – Rules below!)

Contrary to how the word is usually used in English-language fantasy media, a golem in its original context is not just a generic term for any supernaturally animated artificial creature. (If it were, then it would be more or less synonymous with Eureka’s use of the term “living doll” to begin with!) Rather, it refers to a specific creature in Jewish folklore: a facsimile of the human form made out of clay, animated by various words of power placed in or on its body, acting as a source of protection and power for the impoverished and oppressed communities which created it. It is a servant which exists to meet a need of its community, animated by the power of God as channeled through the expertise of a meticulous member of the Jewish community. (Arguably the most notable difference from the genre fiction definition is this inherently Jewish perspective. The creation of a golem is a closed-practice, specifically Jewish tradition, and also, the tradition of Jewish mysticism implies high degrees of specialized knowledge – some written down in studied texts, and others discovered by training under a mentor or interacting with other Jewish leaders. In this way, the golem implies a degree of studiousness and community engagement on the part of its creator, both of which are heavily emphasized values in Jewish spheres.)

My analysis of the thematic role played by the golem is probably best represented in the best-known folkloric golem, the golem of Prague. In this story, a 16th century rabbi of the Prague synagogue creates a humanoid form from clay with the purpose of protecting the ghetto (in this context, the dedicated Jewish quarter of the city) from pogroms and other antisemitic attacks, animating it into a golem by inscribing holy words on its head or placing a scroll of those words in its mouth. Things go wrong in ways which vary from telling to telling, with a common version of the story stating that the golem becomes too dangerous and destructive, and the rabbi removes the inscription of the holy name to render the golem dormant (although rather than destroying his creation, he preserves it in the synagogue’s attic to be reanimated if it’s ever needed). In a fun bit of wordplay, some tellings describe the holy inscription as being the Hebrew word “emet” (“truth”), which is only one letter away from the word “met” (“dead”), with the idea that the rabbi deactivates the golem by erasing a single letter. More traditional interpretations would describe a formula consisting of various divine epithets, either instead of or alongside the previous method. In the Jewish mystical tradition, names of God are thought to be emanations of God’s own glory, and invoking their power in specific ways is seen as a way of causing things beyond the bounds of normal reality.

A few thematic points jump out at me about the golem, both from the story of the Prague golem and from the broader characteristics of the golem. One is the fact that a golem is implicitly lacking in personal identity. Golems are almost never named, and they have very little agency in their own stories – in almost every version of the golem of Prague, for instance, it is deactivated because it has gained too much autonomy. It fights the wrong people, uses too much force defending its community, or even just falls in love, and so it is too dangerous to keep around. Even the terminology being used implies this lack of identity, as it etymologically derives from a Biblical Hebrew term, used only once in the Tanakh, which describes the unfinished form of a human before God breathes life into them. A golem is not perceived as a fully formed individual, but rather as an extension of its creator, built by someone else’s will and discarded whenever it isn’t needed. To me, this has a high degree of relevance to the themes associated with Eureka’s living dolls, who often also grapple with defining their own identity and purpose in the absence of their original context. Their unique struggles evoke concepts of alienation and depersonalization, and I think a golem without a master would have to deal with all of the same issues on that front as they navigate life as a newly independent person.

Golems as a whole, and especially the story of the Prague ghetto, also raise another problem that can create thematic conflict for a character: in their attempts to defend vulnerable people in their community, they can end up making situations more dangerous, rather than helping to defuse them. When the golem of Prague rampages, in many tellings, it doesn’t fully stem the tide of antisemitic antagonism. Instead, it destroys more of the ghetto and allows the gentile population to create a post-hoc justification for their hatred of the Jewish community. In the context of Eureka, I think that this can be a powerful metaphor for how the fear of oppression can lead people to become paranoid, closed off, and destructive to themselves and others. A golem whose purpose is to protect and serve the people around them might want to do just that, but if they find themselves in a situation where superhuman strength and stamina can’t solve a problem, they may be in way over their depth, and they might accidentally harm other people when they try to navigate that. (My use of the phrase “protect and serve” here is no accident – one of many inspirations for this thematic element is people who call for increased police presence in their neighborhoods, even when those communities are more harmed by over-policing than they are by crime. Being afraid and wanting to support their community spurs them to action, but it also blinds them to approaches that don’t use force.) For example, one golem character I’ve come up with has had to flee her home and change her name because she saw someone being harassed, didn’t know her own strength, and intervened in the first way she could think of: violently. She was lucky not to be arrested.

To get a little bit more specific, this theme is most specifically inspired by my own experiences in discussions among members of the Jewish community, as the scars from millennia of marginalization, expulsion, and murder don’t fade quickly. Paranoia is a veritable norm even within our households and places of worship. In our homes, many of us keep passports readily available if there’s a need to escape or show identification, and during any prayer service at a synagogue, there will likely be armed security guards standing at the door. Many of us laugh about it, but there’s a degree of genuine fear that we can’t shake. Often, that fear is harmless, but it can get exhausting to live with, to say little of how it affects other people or how it can be weaponized by bad actors. One look at how the Israeli government seeks to justify its violence in propaganda makes clear that the generational trauma of Jewish communities can be exploited and warped as a means to justify some pretty awful things. The figure of the golem is, in a sense our communal power fantasy – it’s comforting to think that with a bit of ingenuity and some elbow grease we can design our own hero to protect us and help us thrive – but even that fantasy is not free of the reality that, like a superhero, a golem’s innate abilities just aren’t always enough to save everyone. (Indeed, this tension is part of what inspired the Jewish creators of Superman: he has superhuman abilities that he uses to protect vulnerable people, but not every problem can be solved by punching it, and with all his strength he has to be very careful not to destroy everything he loves. This has been noticed by a lot of people, and I’m far from the first to bring it up, but in particular I’d say this observation is borrowed from the excellent video essay “The Golem and the Jewish Superhero” by Jacob Geller on YouTube.) A golem being fleshed out as a character can really lean into that tension.

One more theme I want to bring up is not something I’ve come to any particular conclusions about – it’s really just a few spare thoughts I’ve had rattling around, and an invitation to look into this concept more. It comes out of my research on the development of the word “golem” in Hebrew and Yiddish, as the term has developed beyond just the connotation of a humanoid clay form. It can be a pejorative term like “fool”, but more interesting to me is its use in reference to embryos and pupas. This made me consider the transitory nature of the golem as a representative of change, which I haven’t seen explored very much in any stories out there. Not only has the word gained those connotations, but also, looking at the characteristics of the golem as a creature gives some more fuel to that fire. The fact that it’s generally made out of specifically unfired clay gives it the sense of being unfinished. Its nature of being created in its adult form from the very beginning means that it can display a childish outlook as a seeming adult learning about the world outside of its creator’s life. The story of the golem of Prague even has an ending hook entirely centered around the idea of the golem being temporarily disabled but capable of being reanimated if need be. This idea of a golem as a character with a unique capacity to adapt and change hasn’t been explored very much, but I think it could be interesting to consider.

The last thing I’ll leave here is thoughts on character creation beyond themes. In this document, I’ve included a custom set of rules to play a living doll made of unfired clay, which is the traditional material for a golem. This isn’t playtested in any way, but since Eureka doesn’t try too hard to be balanced around physical attributes, I think it should probably work fine – it’s more thematic than anything. To make a golem, the doll’s purpose should be external in some way, pushing them to help and support other people in their community, especially the most disadvantaged of them. In terms of backstory, the details of a golem’s past can be left fairly foggy if you’d like, but the one thing that can’t be skipped is that they were intentionally created by a Jewish creator invoking Jewish traditions. It’s fine to make a living doll that was animated in some other way, but the character would not be a golem in that case. It’s similar to how Eureka vampires must have some association with Christianity, not because non-Christian undead monsters can’t exist, but because outside of that context, the specific vampire mythos lacks any meaning. (Honestly, also, if you don’t have background information about Jewish life and culture, I would recommend asking someone who does to help with your portrayal.) Finally, in terms of giving a golem a hook to investigate a mystery, it could of course be anything, but there’s one aspect in particular that I would consider: in some versions of the Prague golem’s story, it protected the ghetto by looking into cases where Jews were accused of murder and finding the true culprits, thus clearing the names of the accused. Which is to say, there’s genuine historical precedent for golems investigating mysteries, and it often happens as a means of helping people who are falsely accused of a crime. That’s not mandatory, but it could be fun to keep in mind. Have fun, and if anyone ends up playing a golem investigator using these guidelines, please let me know!

Wet Clay Living Doll – Rules

A living doll made from earthenware materials that have not been hardened by firing. This variant was originally designed to represent the golem of Jewish mythology, but it could also be used to portray, for example, an unfinished art project or a proof of concept for another piece. Depending on their construction and the flexibility of the clay they are made from, they may be treated as jointed or unjointed.

Wet clay living dolls weigh more than twice as much as an average person of their size would. They cannot swim or float, and will sink to the bottom of any body of water immediately.

These living dolls take half damage from all weapons while they have at least 1 point of Superficial HP remaining. Damage from falling is unaffected. Wet clay living dolls are immune to electrical damage.

When a wet clay living doll encounters fire or high heat (in excess of about 500 ºC), their outer layer of clay is fired and becomes hard and brittle. When this happens, this living doll should be mechanically treated as an unjointed living stone statue. If another character has access to tools to chip away the outer layer and a large supply of wet clay to replace it, they can reverse this process with a Full Success on a Technology roll. Regardless of the result, this process will take 1 Tick of time and cause 1 Superficial Damage to the living doll.

Wet clay living dolls are easier to repair. Do not apply the -3 Technology penalty when restoring Penetrative HP.

Wet clay living dolls generally possess superhuman strength, but when they are hurt, they may lose chunks of clay that would otherwise generate weight and power. They have a +5 Contextual Bonus to Athletics and Close Combat, but for each point of sustained Penetrative Damage, this bonus is reduced by 1 point.

Given 1 Tick of time, appropriate tools, and a supply of clay, a wet clay living doll can alter their physical appearance and proportions. They cannot precisely change specific details such as facial features, but can make themselves larger or smaller, change their perceived distribution of fat and muscle, and change the shape of their body enough to be recognizably different. When a wet clay living doll attempts to alter their body, roll Technology.

Full Success: The living doll successfully alters their body to exact specifications. They are able to completely alter their facial features and/or specify a new height and body type, and even on close scrutiny they will not appear out of the ordinary.

Partial Success: The living doll mostly succeeds in altering their body, but they get sloppy. They take 1 Superficial Damage, and close inspection reveals that parts of their skin have abnormal marks and blemishes, but they are still able to make the changes that they hoped for.

Failure: The living doll struggles with even the most basic alterations, doing a messy and imprecise job. They take 1 Superficial Damage, and cuts and blemishes are visible across their skin. They also don't convincingly make the correct changes to their bodies, doing either too much or too little to differentiate themselves from their previous form.

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friendsinsolitude · 22 days ago

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Transfem Rui is really fucking something for Mizuki, cause Rui will never have a similar relationship to WxS as Mizuki does Niigo, like, logistically and thematically, even if on top of understanding loneliness they’re both trans girls. Big picture, relatively little would change about Rui’s arc and story, cause her gender identity is sort of incidental to her identity as a director as she conceptualizes it. The axis on which she perceives herself as wanting acceptance is still shows, and little would change about her relationship to WxS. So even if they’re even more similar than otherwise, Rui finds who she’s waiting for, and Mizuki is still waited for a little longer. And in the interim, Mizuki is Having A Time about her relationship, or rather, point of comparison to Rui.

Rui simply wouldn’t have a secret. If she transitioned before main story, then 1: Nene, and 2: that’s just another gun she’d put on the table to make herself as unpalatable as possible to get the inevitable rejection over with (of course, the other shoe doesn’t drop). If she transitions after main story, then inasmuch as I think she’d be all ohhhhhhhhh ok about it, realizing you’re trans is still a pretty significant change in self-perception so no way she wouldn’t behave a bit off, which historically WxS are very good at noticing and pre-emptively intervening on before it becomes a bigger problem. So like, in the face of “if there’s something bothering you we’ll always listen!!! You don’t have to hold back and it is in fact really problematic for us all if you do!!! We’re here for you!!!” Rui couldn’t really know there’s something up with her for more than a week or two before spilling the beans cause she’s a shit liar. I really don’t think she could have an even remotely comparable situation to Mizuki, despite superficially having something in common.

If Mizuki can’t square away the difference between she and Rui’s progress towards being accepted and having friends with common interests who see and love them as they are as Mizuki being in a significantly more precarious societal position than Rui like in canon, then like, wowwww. Okay. Huh. Wow. So she’s just especially fucked for no fathomable reason? That smarts. That fucking stings. There’s not even a shitty answer for “why her?” And of course Mizuki would be truly incredibly happy for Rui, from the bottom of her heart. But like. Good for you. You’re not on that rooftop anymore, Rui. You can go to the other side, now. If Rui can go to the other side, then why can’t Mizuki? That question fucking sucks.

It’s not like Rui’s whole life would be entirely peaches and cream, either, it’s just like, insofar as Rui is ever relevant to Mizuki in the present moment, (Kamifes, Secret Distance side story 2, Picnic, Reverse Hermit side story 2, Cheer festival, Mizu5, Ena5) Rui’s doing handily better than her. The two of them are ultimately rather different people, Mizuki especially knows this, but every single similarity they stack up will make the difference between them all the sharper.

#it’s like having a sibling your parents treated better. what the fuck.#it’s nobody’s fault except your parents’ for treating you like shit. but what the fuck #rambles #swagposts #or something idk #transfem rui

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palossssssand · 4 days ago

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I’ve been thinking about a lot of stuff I’ve never really elaborated on wrt to “my other characters” (as in, my splatoon characters that aren’t Trito or Kinoga) so I’m just going to gun it and post about Kanu, specifcally about his character in terms of gender and disability

Some ground details:

Kanu is transgender. He was born into a wealthy family, his natural ink color is silver(just a headcanon that metallic ink colors correspond to nobility). I have art of him as a child with a prosthetic arm but I think I’m going to retcon that because it doesn’t make a lot of sense. I still don’t have a reason for why he lost it but that reason is not central to his character(unless I find something thematically relevant). His arm works like Edward Elric’s in that there is a central “hub” piece attached to his shoulder that connects his nerves to his arm, meaning the arm is replaceable.

(side tangent: I’m having a little trouble trying to figure out how this works logistically if he lost it when he was young, like if he has to replace the central hub as he grows, and if it’s a painful process. Regardless of the logistics of his prosthetic arm, it was fitted to him for functionality in the military).

I’m going to go with the assumption that the octarian military is both a) an involuntary draft unless physically unable and b) a great honor to serve their people. Kanu, being from a wealthy family, is put into a position where he is accommodated so that he is able to fulfill that honor for his people And “cover” for the disability. Given that the octarian domes have been in decline and have been scarce on resources, being given accommodation was very valuable.

Presenting now a brief writing on Kanu’s dynamic with his parents:

This is someone who grew up being materially supported as well as the mindset that he is entitled to that support. Which to be fair, he should be, but his upbringing did not give him the emotional intelligence to understand why he is able to be in the position to be disabled and serve.

Regardless if the prosthetic arm is readily accessible to him, it could never be replaceable for a flesh arm with full control, and he grows to understands this, eventually learning to rely more on his other limbs. He is put into a position where he is taught to ignore the disability (where everything is materially accommodated* for and to be grateful for it) and glaringly, realizing that this is not the case.

* I do feel the need to clarify that his accommodation in this case is mainly a perceived one, that is, (i know we’re living in splatoon fantasy world) a prosthetic arm made to replicate a living arm, more form than function, as a lot of depictions of prosthetic arms tend to be, therefore, the arm is mostly an “accommodation” by name. Maintenance, weight, balance, discomfort, etc can all be disadvantages and often times many have an easier time managing without a prosthetic arm. More on that in this post by @submalevolentgrace and apologies if I misinterpreted that post in any way

In order for me to tie this into gender, I have to speculate on how Domes Octarian gender roles work, because clearly there Are Gender Roles. The majority of soldiers depicted in canon are women. All the elites are women. I think it’s a reasonable assumption to make that Domes Octarian womanhood is tied to status and strength, things that Kanu is quite accustomed to from an early age and has internalized as core parts of his being because it was what he’s been told.

There comes a time in his life, during his service under Kinoga’s leadership, that he starts having feelings of dissatisfaction with his relationship to his assigned gender as well as a sort of tension with his disability. Kinoga, being assertive, supportive, and attentive, plays to each of their squad member’s strengths, something that was never fully realized with Kanu’s upbringing. He was encouraged to fight without relying on his arm, which was something that he’d learned to do on his own anyways. The prosthetic is imposed on him, not maliciously, but he internalizes that he should be grateful for it. The reality is that it’s unsuitable for him, and his time with the squad is an environment where he is allowed the time and space to realize this.

Kanu finds out he’s transgender for reasons unspecified. My point in tying disability and gender for Kanu is that for him, dissociating himself from what he was given involves a sense of loss in terms of power and status. And that strength is not something he wants to lose. He’s still stubborn, tenacious, and skilled, and in a way, he feels the need to prove to himself that he is still worthy even if he feels it necessary sheds the things he’s been given. When he does transition socially in the domes, when he learns to rely less and less on his prosthetic arm, there’s a sense of reclamation in that strength for the first time and a rejection of what he’s been given. Taking control in his life in a way that’s his own.

That’s not to say that all this manifests in a great way. Keep in mind that there’s still a certain callousness to him, abrasive in the way that he’s not shaken off, blunt because that’s how he got what he wanted. When he leaves the squad to find Kinoga, Trito, and Agara, who left for the metros, his firm insistence in his belief that he must go looking for him is what shatters the rest of the group. (Denchu especially so, since Kanu’s transition led her to begin questioning her identity too. I could also write a whole essay on Denchu, his relationship to gender, role in a group dynamic, and resistance to change). Despite knowing that Denchu means a great deal to him, he isn’t aware of why his decision upsets them so much, wanting to justify it for the good of the squad.

His escape to the surface is his freedom. His decisions, his actions, are all his own. On the surface, the gender roles (presumably) are not as strict, there’s more options, more expression, more comfort for him to be a man. He discards his old prosthetic arm and for a while, is content with leaving it that way. It’s only recently that he builds the new arm that is seen in the ref. He builds it with his blood, sweat, and tears, in his own free time, with his own trial and error. He doesn’t build it out of necessity at all because he knows he can perform without it (keyword: perform, because this is still a man who feels he needs to prove what he can do on his own.). Kanu builds the arm purely because he knows he has the technical skill to pull it off and because it’s cool as fuck. It has swappable tools and a more tentacle-like flexibility that aligns better with his needs that still is not more useful than just having no arm because he is plenty capable. The arm itself is not the point, the autonomy to make it for himself is.

Despite this, his fixation on doing things because he can and wants to is still detrimental to his health. His desire for things and stubbornness to pursue them hasn’t changed from his upbringing, only his motivation and means to pursuit. It’s still about autonomy. But it’s still about control.

phew. I think that’s most of what I have for him as a character, individually. if you guys want another post like this just let me know because I have all this stuff sitting in my brain and I just need to be enabled to post about it

#god I just skimmed his toyhouse bio and theres just so much that’s here that isnt evident on there #kanu is interesting ….he manifests his masculinity in a way thats teeeechnically subversive wrt octarian roles but for us its like #yuuuup. thats a Man #my ocs #splatoon #kanu #long post #I read a really excellent post from a character disability advice blog about arm prosthetics not too long ago #and it just really got me thinking about kanu’s perception of capability and everything about that #writing #disability #by the way if you did not want me to tag you in this let me know #it is 2 am. i need to pass away

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venonomnomicon · 14 days ago

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"why does susie bleed" is a hot question with deltarune chapter 4, and i'd like to just quickly go over some possible reasons I can think of for it and my thoughts on them.

For context, in Undertale monsters do not bleed. They simply turn to dust and die. The only exception to this is Sans, who bleeds when cut at the end of his boss fight, though this may be ketchup. In Deltarune there are monsters who talk about not having blood, but also certain monsters do bleed (Susie) or are associated with ambiguous blood-like imagery that may or may not be blood (Noelle). Sans is still associated with ketchup.

This has caused a bit of a stir because it implies either some major departure from Undertale's world's mechanics (which, like, duh, nobody can use magic they all use toilets and they live in a small town instead of a fantasy kingdom) or something weird going on with any monster who bleeds and/or is even vaguely associated with blood.

"Susie is secretly part human!" OK this is one I've seen a lot. I understand the desire to make this theory but I really have to ask: who gives a shit? What would this even mean? I'd understand this being a concept in Undertale because that story is directly about the divide between monsters and humans, but I absolutely hate this theory because of how masturbatory it is about the setting. What IF Susie is part human? How is this, like, relevant to the story or themes? This one sucks. Sorry.

"Monsters bleed, but only in the dark world" this one is interesting mainly because it raises some actually interesting questions, especially in the way it links into Deltarune's themes. Imagine the dark world as the great equalizer between monster and human: in the overworld they are close but seperate, but in the dark world they are simply "lightners". They both bleed. It's kind of shallow beyond that for much the same reasons as the "susie is a human" theory, but it's a cute idea.

"Susie bleeds because the scene's imagery works best if she bleeds" in all honestly this one seems pretty likely to me. Susie bleeds in the scene because she needs to bleed to be able to wipe blood on Ralsei's cheek. This one is pretty unsatisfying though, because it is kind of a dead end. That then makes the imagery itself feel kind of hollow because if it was just to look striking then it's pretty shallow beyond aesthetics.

"Susie is one of the only monsters who bleed" I like this one because the moment you create a massive seperation like this it becomes this huge question floating in the room, but you never have to answer it. Maybe Susie just bleeds. She's not half human, it's not through some logistics of biology or whatever in the world. She just bleeds. That's fucking weird, right?

"Susie bleeds as a visual signifier that she is fated to die" this one is basically just a combination of the last two and obviously we don't actually know that's what she saw that made her angry, but it'd be very yummy, thematically speaking.

"Susie and Noelle are both associated with blood because their roles mirror each other on the two routes" this one kind of hinges on you buying into the "Noelle replaces Susie as the girl in the prophecy" idea but it's pretty interesting. Noelle becomes associated with blood imagery when you force the thorn ring on her and her fate irreversibly changes, Susie becomes associated with blood imagery when she discovers the end of the prophecy. It's a cute parallel

"Susie ate a lot of ketchup before the Chapter 4 dark world and monster biology is such that if you eat a lot of ketchup it will flow throughout your body and then exit from wounds" OK

#deltarune #deltarune spoilers

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from-the-coffee-shop-in-edoras · 8 days ago

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Seven Sentence Whatever Day

Thanks for the tags @emyn-arnens and @frodothefair ! I enjoyed seeing both of your excerpts, which are very different in style and content and I love that about my friends — such a range of what we’re all doing and making and enjoying!

I’ve been once again trying to spend time with Lithcynd and Dúnhere because I find them fun and not as thematically serious as a lot of the other stuff I’ve written lately (though this is because I am staying in the parts of the timeline before Dúnhere dies in Gondor 😭). Per my HC, Dúnhere’s wife is the one who organized all the logistics of the Muster of Rohan in Harrowdale because he was canonically in the fighting at the Fords and therefore wouldn’t have been able to do it even though he was the lord of the valley. And Lithcynd both loves a challenge and is absolutely up to it.

While other men might be surprised to return home to find their wives in a spirited debate about how best to burn an army’s worth of rubbish, Dúnhere seemed to have expected nothing less. Alone among the men in her life, he had both recognized the imposing nature of her talents and never sought to diminish them in order to make his own seem all the greater. From the moment he’d found her back in Wítscylp, efficiently carrying out her father’s neglected duties as village reeve while the old man steadily drank himself to death, Dúnhere had only ever encouraged her. Do more, be more, try more. Speak even if others expect quiet, lead when others look for deference. My family is kin to the mighty sister of Hammerhand, he would say. Give me a wife who could wrangle the very sun from the sky if she set her mind to it.

It’s also my little HC that Dúnhere shares lineage with Harrowdale’s most famous canonical family, that of Helm Hammerhand’s sister, Hild. In Appendix A, Hild’s son Fréaláf rode out of Harrowdale to liberate Edoras after Helm died and then became king, but I imagine that Hild herself stayed in the valley. And other relatives of hers then inherited the title of Lord of Harrowdale down through the years, all the way to my Dúnhere.

Tagging @hobbitwrangler @inkedmoth @celeluwhenfics for now or some later date when/if you feel like sharing something!

#tag games #seven sentence someday #dúnhere #lithcynd #this is up there with guthláf and wídfara #in terms of obscure canonical rohirrim #but i am what i am

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vickyvicarious · 9 months ago

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You know, I was thinking about who wrote what today and noticed an interesting pattern. First, I have to preface that it's quite possible that some people are writing about the same overlapping experiences, and we just don't see that because it would be too repetitive. Both for Stoker as author, and in-universe for them to feel it necessary to keep two people's writeups of the same incident. Unless those entries only overlap slightly, or go on to other details, then whichever one is extraneous (not as many details, perhaps) might just be discarded from the 'official narrative'.

So it's perfectly possible they are being written, at least some times. But we don't really hear directly from any of Dracula's victims about their encounters with him or other vampires. Not once they know he was preying on them.

Mina and Lucy and Jonathan all write entries that we can read between the lines to realize involved them being bitten by Dracula. Jonathan has the timeskip and change in position and Dracula bloody and bloated. Lucy and Mina both remember seeing the mist or swirling dust coming towards them and red eyes, and feel weak and pained in the aftermath. But all of those entries are made before they understand what it is that's happened. Jonathan and Mina forgot/were made to forget, and Lucy both was made to forget and lacked context.

We do hear both Lucy and Mina recount experiences of being bitten. But both of those times are them speaking aloud for someone else to write down. And, while we can exclude Lucy from this, both Jonathan and Mina encounter Dracula after escaping him. Both keep journals. But we never see any entries in either of their journals about any of these encounters. And neither of them directly write about remembering the experience of their bites more clearly in hindsight.

It's most notable for Jonathan, because he has the most encounters. Mina relates what happened when he saw the Count in Piccadilly. He forgot that one and it was before he reopened his journal, so that makes sense. But we don't hear from him in his journal today about either his experience of being kept asleep (dreaming? of what?) and then waking to a bitten Mina, or his own encounter with Dracula in the house. We don't hear his thoughts on killing Dracula at the end of the book. Nor do we hear his thoughts when he potentially remembers what happened to him in the castle (the day he talks about feeling the Vampire's lips on your throat). And while we do get Mina's POV of the final defeat of Dracula, we don't see any entry from her about seeing him at Carfax today, or about her thoughts on meeting the vampire women.

I think in general there are other logistical/thematic reasons for this. Vampires don't write, and Mina's in a deliberately vague in-between state of humanity/vampirism when she encounters the vampire women. Having her write at the end is a good way to show her return to full humanity as well as her having the best view of the whole encounter and getting the last word of the main story. Jonathan was too hotheaded/distressed/out of it at various moments to write with much detail about everything else going on. It all makes sense. But it still is just kind of interesting, and leaves several gaps that could be really interesting to see written.

#dracula daily #dracula daily spoilers #lucy westenra #mina murray #jonathan harker #i've only read like 4 dracula fics so maybe they all HAVE been written #i plan on getting to reading more after this year's run is over so maybe i'll find them then

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abyssalbathwater · 13 days ago

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Been thinking a lot about Game Of Thrones season 8 and how that’s basically what DA4 felt like. They basically pulled another Daenerys Targaryen with Solas, which had the domino affect of needing to rip out the narrative and thematic foundations upon which the series was built, watering down and rearranging its contents in the interest of character assassination and forcing an ending that makes no sense and accomplishes nothing.

All the previously smart people are now idiots (e.g, Varric and Tyrion). The previously grey characters are now either centrists or suddenly grew a 21st Century sense of morality overnight because we can’t have anyone feeling ambivalent about the fan favorites. Any and all nuance or depth has been scrubbed by writers who don’t appear to have even a passing familiarity with said character, their history, or the themes of their journey (e.g, John Snow, Jamie, The Hound; Morrigan, The Inquisitor, Isabela, Dorian, and pretty much every returning character)

The big existential threat that has been looming for generations is put to an end by someone who just kinda had a special knife and didn’t make sense being there anyway.

Any and all exploration of the logistics, implication, and societal impact of what’s going on (which was a huge part of both GOT and DA) is absent. Basic facts about the word are presented wrong because the writers couldn’t be bothered to do their jobs properly and just kinda wanted to get it over with. Characters and subplots resolve (if at all) with the most frustrating, lazy, and nonsensical conclusions.

I could go on. But damn I’m so tired.

#datv critical #veilguard critical #veilguard criticism #Game of thrones #sort of #my heart goes out tk you guys I fucking get it

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arthur-lesters-glabella · 2 months ago

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So we know the next interlude is called Da Capo, the question then, while we wait for 52, is why?? It means “from the beginning” or “from the head” (notable bcs Arthur chooses heads in Coda for the coin flip- Im not mentioning anything that directly includes s3 as an option but know it’s in my thoughts always). Now the least dramatic situation is they are returned to their Arkham, having to face the beginning set-up or it transformed (ex. an apocalypse). That could be very interesting, especially if we finally deal with Parker and everything else established in s1, but there are other options.

So, next option: they are sent to this alternate universe’s Arkham and have to deal with its changes and probably solve some very existential and horrific problem like fixing the mistakes of others to avoid something in this universe.

Option 3: they go even further back to some fucked up shit like Arthur’s childhood and John stuck in the Dark World. Idk how this works but it is an option. Maybe a fix-it but more fucked.

Option 4: this actually refers to a memory wipe once again, this time Arthur to fulfill Kayne’s deal with John in Intermezzo.

Option 5: both of them are wiped and idk shit goes down- I think this unlikely

Option 6: both time and memory gets involved. Arthur and John fail to give Kayne the black stone and so he sends them back to the ep 1 situation with Arthur’s memory being wiped

Option 7: the world is destroyed and we must start anew, idk lol

Option 8: they go full fix it and are forced to go through time and space to change their fates at multiple different points (probably before finding it’s useless and somehow getting to a bittersweet end in where they have to accept a reality- not my favourite kind of ending and not quite right thematically but I’m not a writer so that’s what I got). John may or may not be sent to the Dark World to deal with his own thing at this point (look, separate bodies is my fear but I also fear the logistics of how Harlan would do so other than making John and Arthur talk to people or each others even when they aren’t there- and that HURTS mk I don’t need that in my life).

In (very weak) support of option 6 with notes on episode 1:

How does John just automatically assume correctly Arthur played the piano and possibly know that will bring his memory back or at least calm him down?? I don’t think the mind sharing worked that quickly but I’m probably wrong.

we still don’t really know why both their minds (more Arthur’s than John’s) were wiped during the assumed ritual?? Was that just part of it or was it something else- say a certain barefooted malevolent being

John is doing a LOT of the guiding in ep 1 specifically in the way of avoiding very possible disasters that come from the choices Arthur brings up which could just be asshole wisdom but ???

the first epsiode is WEIRD and so much of it still doesn’t make sense. Season 4 gives possible solutions to some of it all (like the robber at the bookshop- kinda, not rlly) but not all of it. This could very well be writing direction simply changing but I can hope otherwise.

Wtf was John doing remembering “You Call it Madness” and why was it playing in the bookshop- was this established by the cult at the hotel as part of their path or was it someone/something else simply framed as them bcs it is easy to obtain a pallid mask?

On the same note as the last note, “You Call It Madness” has the lyrics “I can’t forget the night I met you, it’s all I’m dreaming of” which puts… a considerable amount of emphasis on memory in John and Arthur’s relationship.

We also know the s6 cover is grey and black and fabric-esk (mind you, it’s also giving fabric or water over top of a grey stone or flesh or beach?? I never know with these covers) calling to both s1 and s4. Why? This is where another option comes in.

Option 9: they go back to the end of s4 an have to restart their quest. Not my favourite option but an option.

And another (unrelated to the cover) option 10: This is actually referring to a loredrop from an entity about how shit has gone from the very beginning- whether that is when we start to follow them along or before than.

Option 11: they get separate bodies and it refers to John learning how to do things like a human “from the beginning.” (Also the awful pun that he is moved from the head)

So after all that, my conclusion really is I’m just worried and this is a mess because I archived the time and memory fuckery theories in the back of my mind and they have crumbled slightly into dust since I last developed them. There were more ideas cooking but they have been forgotten.

#malevolent #Malevolent podcast #malevolent spoilers #Da capo malevolent #malevolent theories #malevolent theory #malevolent part 52 #the glabella speaks #This time of uncooked and weird possibilities that I’m just going to put out there

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