#brutal plot

[the-most-humble-blog]

<div style="white-space:pre-wrap"> <meta character-arc-alert="REAL_STORY_REQUIRED"> <script> ARCHIVE_TAG="CHARACTER_PUNISHMENT::DISNEY_ARC_CULL::NO_ESCAPE_BUTTON" EFFECT: audience discomfort, plot consequence enforcement, emotional story architecture TRIGGER_WARNING="death of idealism, harsh realism, story pain" </script>

🧠 BLACKSITE SCROLLTRAP — “IF YOU’RE NOT WRITING A SERIES, THEN WHY ARE YOU SCARED OF A REAL ENDING?”

===

Let me ask you something that might sting:

If your character arc isn’t going to have a sequel… Why the hell are you so afraid of giving them a real ending?

No, not a sanitized redemption. Not a little bow-tied “he learned something about himself.” Not that soy-drenched “and they all healed” finale you got hand-delivered from the mass-market mouse you subconsciously worship.

I mean a REAL ending.

One where they lose.

Where they get punished.

Where they succeed too late, or fall just short.

Where they save the world… but nobody ever knows it was them.

Where the truth dies with them.

Where no one claps.

Where no one is waiting on the other side of the final door with open arms.

Where the audience stares at the screen in silence when the credits roll — not triumphant, not inspired… but changed.

Let’s be blunt.

Your character doesn’t need another trilogy.

They need to suffer the consequence of this one.

Remember the ‘80s and ‘90s? When you could end a film or a novel or a game on a gut punch?

When the hero might not make it?

When someone would throw themselves on the grenade… and that was it?

No resurrection clause. No surprise teleport. No fade-to-white escape.

Just gone.

Because some stories were meant to be told ONCE.

That was the power.

You got ONE shot.

And what you did with it? Defined you.

But now?

Now you’re writing like everyone gets a reboot.

Like narrative gravity doesn’t exist.

Like every death needs a flashback clause.

You’re writing the emotional version of a participation trophy.

“Look, everyone made it home!”

No.

No they didn’t.

No they don’t.

And no — they shouldn’t.

Let me say this slow for the writers in the back:

👉 If your story has no sequel, there’s no excuse not to bring the hammer down.

They don’t get to walk into the sunset if the path was lined with corpses they stepped over.

They don’t get a kiss and a cozy flat in the epilogue if they started a war that broke the world.

They don’t get to learn something at the last second and be absolved by the audience because you didn’t have the spine to follow through.

I want you to remember something:

The most unforgettable endings wound you.

Not because they were mean.

But because they were honest.

Because they didn’t lie to the reader.

Because the author didn’t flinch.

📜 WRITING EXERCISE: “THE ONE WHO DESERVED WORSE”

Pick a character you love.

Now delete your cowardice.

Write the ending they earned, not the one you wish they had.

If they manipulated people? Let it cost them their last chance at connection.

If they killed? Let someone’s child recognize them, scream their name, and ruin their last peace.

If they hesitated and got people hurt? Let their final act be alone, unwitnessed, and uncelebrated.

Then write yourself watching that ending.

Write the you who let it happen.

Write the author who didn’t flinch.

You are not weak for writing endings that bruise.

You’re weak if you don’t.

You are not cruel for showing a character fail and stay failed.

You’re cruel if you give them a clean exit they didn’t earn.

Stop writing with one eye on BookTok.

Stop calculating your plot beats based on what might get adapted.

Write like no one will ever read it except your ghost.

Write like it’s the last story you’ll ever get to tell.

Because sometimes?

It is.

Some of the greatest characters in literary history didn’t get closure.

They got obliteration.

They got humiliation.

They got a final frame where the light hits them just wrong — and you realize:

They were the villain all along.

Or worse—

They were right the whole time… and it still didn’t matter.

Because reality doesn’t care if you meant well.

And neither should your ending.

Every time you soften a blow…

Every time you throw in a last-minute reveal to “make it okay”…

Every time you send them off with a hug and a smirk…

You weaken everything that came before.

Your story is not a daycare.

Your story is not a theme park ride.

Your story is a goddamn weapon.

And if you’re not stabbing with it— you’re wasting metal.

So do it.

Kill him.

Let her fall.

Let them not come back.

Let the reader scream.

Let them hate you.

And then — when the rage subsides, when the betrayal melts into quiet awe — they will thank you.

Because for once, someone dared.

Someone ended it.

And you know what?

That ending?

Will outlive the reader.

Just like it did the character.

---

Reblog if you’ve ever seen a character deserve worse—but the author chickened out. Reblog if you crave endings that hurt, because they were earned. Reblog if your favorite story was the one that didn’t blink. 🧠 Read more scrolltrap doctrine and unforgivable narrative strategy at: 👉 https://linktr.ee/ObeyMyCadence 🛡️ Character punishment. Plot consequence. Emotional extinction. 🚪 Warning: This one made a writer cry. That writer was you.

</div>

<!-- END TRANSMISSION [YOU DON’T NEED A SEQUEL. YOU NEED COURAGE.] -->

[is9vhl]

forgot to post these for father’s day yesterday 💔 happy (late) father’s day to world’s okayest father fr

[vohtaro]

achilles’ breaks are a serious matter. bitch. | in which patroclus is rather protective of achilles’ break time and continues his crass manner with zagreus and also calls him a bitch because he can

[sunderwight]

A fun prospect for Superhero-themed SV AU's that I don't often see is genre dissonance. Like, Luo Binghe as this edgy 90's style antihero who just straight up kills his enemies and sleeps around and is driven by selfish motives (revenge, ambition, etc) rather than altruistic morality, vs Shen Qingqiu as this kid-friendly supervillain who is "evil" mostly in terms of aesthetics and his ability to make inconvenient problems that are reasonably safe for child heroes to solve. Something like Punisher vs Team Rocket in terms of vibes.

Maybe the reason they meet is because some big publishing house akin to Marvel or DC just bought up the rights to whole bunch of older, discontinued comics titles, and decided to do a Justice League/Avengers style mash-up with a bunch of nostalgia properties and their most recognizable heroes and villains. Which means lots of crossovers condensing several titles into a handful of series.

Luo Binghe's origin always features him as a teenager, so he reboots as the youngest Avenger-equivalent team member in the new continuity. Even in this reboot, however, the writers still mostly go the gritty and dark route with his plots and stick to the same key developments -- his abandonment as an infant, his adoptive mother's tragic death, his tough life on the streets, abusive mentors and backstabbing "allies", and so on.

But Luo Binghe's life suddenly starts experiencing periods of dramatic change in his life when he's brought in for appearances in the lighter, friendlier world of the Junior Heroes continuity. After all, he's a natural choice for tying the two continuities together thanks to his youthfulness. Luo Binghe isn't consciously aware of the fact that he's moving between different titles and different writers. All he knows is that sometimes, when he hangs out with the bright and talented Ning Yingying, he's drawn into "conflicts" with Shen Qingqiu -- the kind of "villain" who will call for tea breaks, never actually hits anyone when he shoots his ray gun, leaves clues for all of his crimes, and can't seem to stop from imparting genuinely helpful advice in between his witty quips and taunts.

When Luo Binghe fights Shen Qingqiu, somehow he never actually gets hurt. Neither do any of his friends. The world in general seems brighter and lighter, as if there is some secret barrier protecting everyone from all the evils Binghe knows only too well exist in the rest of his life. Luo Binghe is increasingly convinced that Shen Qingqiu is the source of this mystical safety net. After all, for an allegedly powerful genius who is able to fool half the world about his wicked aims, he's never won a single fight against a kindhearted but somewhat ditzy teenager and her ragtag bunch of friends!

So what's he spending his actual energy on?

Luo Binghe is pretty sure it's keeping the real evils at bay. Making himself the biggest bad in town, and in doing that, making it so that the "biggest bad" is nothing worse than a slightly judgmental teacher in a pretty costume.

It's not long before Luo Binghe doesn't want to go back to the Justice League equivalent, to his world of misery and strife, even after his visits with Ning Yingying are supposed to be over. Especially as the global stakes of various heroic activities start getting higher, and it becomes clear that the boundary between Shen Qingqiu's safe world and the grimdark reality of Binghe's usual life are getting thinner...

[valtsv]

as well as being incredibly misogynistic and demeaning, "catfight" just isn't an accurate term for what's being described most of the time. if you refer to two women fighting as a "catfight" i'd better see them growling at each other with blood under their nails and deep jagged scratches carved into their skin where they tried to disembowel each other with their bare hands. they'd better be tearing out chunks of each other's flesh with their bloodstained teeth and trying to gouge each other's eyes out. if you're going to be a sexist loser you can at least do us real sicknasty perverts the favour of not half-assing it.

[veneskaa]

When I say "Cassian Andor s2 corruption arc" btw I don't mean him just becoming bad or losing his moral compass, but I think it would have been both fun and interesting for the Rebellion to change/reshape him - a Cassian who lost everything not because it was taken from him per se (dragging him, unwilling, to his Destiny) but because his increasing devotion to a cause that demands ethical compromise alienated him from the people who loved him. A guy who goes from sparing Syril against Luthen's orders to carrying out hits against his own conscience until, years later, killing Tivik is regrettable but reflexive and sparing Galen Erso is not only a redemption but a return to the more idealistic man he was when Luthen recruited him. The first time you do something you want to forget, how do you make it worth it? - You make sure you win, and you win by doing it again and again and if that means the people you love can't look you in the eye anymore, if they leave you because they can't sleep next to a murderer, because you're turning into a stranger with every passing day, then so be it. You have to be able to look at yourself in the mirror. Where was this s2 Cassian Andor

[cha0ticlesbian]

One thing I’ll always appreciate is how casual they were about captain holt being gay and just diversity in general in b99

[flat-neines]

I think the primary reason in universe that the ic could easily write off the plight of HC/Illyria despite having severe personal reasons to never allow it to happen again is the fact that velaris exists and they spend their time and money there.

What I'm trying to say is that they don't have to look at the side effects that their inactions caused unless they want to. And since they don't unless they need something from the very people they condemned, the ic can spend time patting themselves on the back by getting blackout drunk at Rita's. Velaris is basically a filter on their reality, where responsibility and consequences don't exist for the group as government officials.

(There's an argument that could be made about windhaven functioning the same way, but I'd say it's a little more insidious than that; windhaven is a performance, with the inhabitants as unwitting actors in a grander show)

If the inner circle's respective roles forced them to be in the same environments they neglected, with the magic of the land binding them to the seats, all of them (with the exception of rhysand and armen) would be changing their tune. Mor wouldn't get away with wearing red to flaunt her superiority if she had to be present binding and burying every single child bride in Hewn, looking as if she's eager to send someone else to the slaughter. Cassian wouldn't make a show of buying blankets for poor families being all he can do if he had to share those winters without protection or infrastructure, the same ones that killed bastards unluckier than him. Azriel would be pissed at rhysand constantly if he could only be in dungeons of those imprisoned, reliving his childhood on loop as he forgets the difference of his victims keening in pain between his own.

Do I think they'd change for altruistic reasons? Not really. But their agreement to rhysand's "change takes time" would drastically change if they were equally as affected by the "takes time" part like everyone else.

[intramoon]

[Previous] [Next] | ♫ I.F.L/Downside/baby bull - Brockhampton Transcription under the cut.

Wednesday: Are you cooking for a village?

Amelia: Sort of. [soft chuckle] It's for us, but Penny and I are going out. I said I'd make her breakfast before we left.

Wednesday: Noted, I'll take my plate outside.

Amelia: You don't have to eat outside.

Wednesday: Rather that than Penny's eyes burning holes in the back of my head.

Amelia: I wish I had an explanation or knew why she won't come around.

-

[doorbell] [front door opens]

Amelia: Wait your outfit is so cute!

Penny: Thank you! It's been sitting in my closet. I finally decided to wear it.

Amelia: Now I feel underdressed. [soft chuckle]

Penny: No no, you are so cute what are you talking about!

Penny: What are you making, it smells good and I'm starving.

[leaves rustling]

-

[flick of the lighter]

-

Miles: Hey, I don't mean to bother you I just wanted to introduce myself to my neighbors.

Wednesday: We need to get a house in the middle of nowhere.

Miles: That's easier when you live near a familiar face.

-

Wednesday: What a fucking nightmare.

[things-stronger-than-fear]

literally in another universe snowbairdplinth could've been THE revolution. they wouldn't even really need any allies, lbr.

like, between coryo's cunning, sej's conscience, and lucy gray's charisma? the snow name, the plinth fortune, the baird d12 but neither district nor capitol pedigree?

coryo could've actually been like, panem's first 20-year-old president, who outlaws the hunger games and who the districts still listen to because he has sej and lucy gray on side. and yeah maybe coryo still kills a bunch of people but like whatever, no one really bats an eye -- who's gonna mourn gaul, anyways? no one in the districts, that's for sure. even if gaul didn't suck ass they'd be busy with cool covey music and awesome new legislation.

in a better universe i am 100% certain snowbairdplinth could've managed a fairly bloodless revolution, six decades early.

[vitrall]

I don't think Jayce and Viktor literally died. They were kind of pulled into another dimension/astral plane/whatever you call it. We see older Viktor, and while it could be another Viktor, I think it would be more meaningful if it was our Viktor, finally free from the arcane, going through the universe with Jayce, fixing timelines together. Kind of like a cosmic mission.

[foibles-fables]

okay I’ve seen both endings now and just. man.

that said. there IS a game-spanning fix-it fic planned in my head, thesis of which is “a sapphic love story saves everything” AND IT WOULD‼️‼️

[konigslittleliebling]

rewatching the green mile again for the plot 🙂‍↕️

(the plot in question:)

[carlyraejepsans]

btw. incredibly refreshing to see someone capable of criticizing ghost trick. usually when i see people talking about what it gets wrong they're talking about some weird nitpick (or a completely made-the-fuck-up problem) instead of the flaws the game actually has.

(not to be taken as ghost trick hate, for the record. its one of my favorite games, it's just not perfect)

listen. you're gonna have to let me slow cook this one for a few more days cause I'm watching metanarrates play the game with a friend of ours and I'd like to discuss this with them first to get my thoughts in order, but i feel like the misogyny in Lynne's "ambiguous age" and constant infantilization is a perfect microcosm of the larger hypocrisy in ghost trick's social critique (or rather, lack of)

[kitts-mechanix]

alternate title: Galvatron is going to kill us all, emotionally

[princesseddiediazzzz]

When the book is good but I have to deal with the Shannon, Taylor or Maddie bashing 🧍🏽‍♂️