#essentially they doomed eachother

[crustyfloor]

Mizi's narration throughout Karma is so packed, I'd like to focus specifically on the part where Mizi is addressing HyunA and revealing her secret about Sua for a moment...

The part of this sequence that gets to me the most is Sua secretly giving Mizi more of her own lines to sing, it's actually so calculated, I want to throw up. Even though they were aiming to get a tie, this re-establishes that Sua knew for certain that wouldn't happen, didn't tell Mizi a thing about it, and made it so that Mizi would definitely get more points for stage presence rather than Sua. Mizi directly admits that she knew what Sua was up to, that she was essentially orchestrating her own death, yet didn't say anything about it, and continued to act as oblivious as Sua thought she was

Mizi's narration in this section reiterates the facade, her guilt, and her distorted image of herself. In The True Face comic, Mizi's own guilt manifested and admonished her for these very actions, for this very willful ignorance that allowed Sua to write her own doom, Mizi convinced herself that she was a selfish person who led all of her friends to their deaths because she didn't care for them enough, and I think this line of thinking in her monologue reflects that. But once again, even though Mizi didn't act, it's not as if she truly didn't care about Sua enough

It's essential to acknowledge that the nature of every character is different and unique to them. Sua didn't value her own life, to her, Mizi was her world, the only reason she could be happy in this world, and she would do anything to keep that safe haven, Sua was willing to give everything, even her life so that she wouldn't have to suffer without Mizi by her side.

She addresses HyunA in this line- "I know my love was different from yours." It's her comparing HyunA's "selfless", self-sacrificial love to Mizi's own perceived selfishness. HyunA is willing to put her life on the line for Luka. HyunA would even persevere for others, but Mizi couldn't do the same. But that doesn't make her love for Sua insincere, that's for certain. Sometimes human love can't be measured by their actions alone; noble love is often romanticized, but humans will be selfish. Mizi wasn't willing to sabotage Sua's plan to avoid her death because -("If you had seen the look on her face too, you wouldn't be able to judge me either") in that scene where Sua saved Mizi from dying, Mizi could understand that if she sacrificed herself in the future, if she did die in that moment, Sua would be devastated living in grief.

The thing is, Mizi wanted to die, but the moment she saw Sua's face break when she caught her before she could fall, her despair at the prospect that she could've lost Mizi just like that, she knew Sua wouldn't be able to bear it. So Mizi couldn't bring herself to do that to her. That much convinced Mizi to not go through with it. And because of this, she turned a blind eye to what Sua was doing behind her back, even if it meant Sua would die. Mizi being willing to do that doesn't mean she didn't love Sua enough, doesn't mean she didn't care. It's so twisted- I think they cared so much for each other in ways that kept themselves at peace that they were blinded by it, they deceive each other into a false sense of security to keep the other close and safe, not wanting to take the risk of upsetting/changing the other in fear of changing the connection between them and ultimately losing each other-- the only comfort and solace they could cling to in that world. It's akin to a selfish sense of self-preservation and care, for Mizi to keep quiet and follow Sua's lead despite what she knows, and how much she truly worries and wanted to do something, just so that Sua wouldn't have to live that visceral fear, maybe on the off-chance that they could both survive round 1 like they dreamed, they could avoid it. Yet that fear of loneliness and pain they shared, that they were trying to escape from in each other, was given back to Mizi after Sua's death, while doing the very thing she wanted to do to keep Sua from suffering

[petorahs]

Aventurine and Sunday doomed soulmates in a yuri way... does no one else get the vision...

[shrimsour]

Introducing my timeskip medhammer Banland Warden Duo au! (BWD)

🔨⚕️ General info about the au

🔨⚕️ Read more for more au yappuccino

This is one of the rare times you'll see me post ship content as I'm usually not interested in them too much.

BWD has been in my head since late 2023 and was birthed from making scenarios to edit audios lmao, it's so riveting to finally visualize it and give it a name, designs and actually write some plot bunnies down.

And I'm so giddy to post this on tumblr bc I can yapp away all I want here 🦐🍋🦾 here's a lil treat for yall bc I love yall sm

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhEtW_IOLsAHh8aKxWBl3aVakPU-Z6but

This is essentially devil may cry 5 meets persona 5 meets adam sandler romcoms meets eldritch horror

🔨⚕️ Recommended to read general info first I won't be repeating myself here.

Content warning for themes of suicide, self harm, violence, body horror.

Yeah as you probably gathered Medkit is not doing too hot, he's pretty unstable while on the run. I'd like to add that Sword knows nothing and as far as he knows Medkit is missing again and probably somewhere dead in the ditch. Medkit sends his care packages anonymously to hospitals and takes zero credit for the people he manages to save. He paints his horns brown to not stand out (in DIH we trust) and trims his antlers branches to make himself less recognizable, this does little to keep the government (SFOTH) off his ass.

Medkit upgrades his gear and makes it so its like one of those all in one survival knives with like a fork and spoon when they fan out yk which ones, except for dangerous weapons. He can transform his suitcase like a rubikscube into a shotgun, sniper, automatic, sentry, minigun, clawed gloves, fucking CHAINSAW. The rest is just stuff that was alr there but he added special handles to keep it in place and better attack with it (so surgical knives, scissors, bandages for binding demons)

He's a sadist and at the same time masochist, quite a terrifying combo.

Banhammer is essentially like: I can fix him. Lol.

Medkit attains eternal youth and life with his crystals, which comes at a price of him slowly detoriating from the inside, his sanity following suit. He cannot heal that rot, it's always present yet he still gets urges, on numerous occasions he tried to stab himself enough times and then heal to get rid of it somehow. One such notorious scene is a scenario I call The bathtub scene. Medkit tries to CARVE the rot out of himself and bleeds in the bathtub (still during the wanted arc) and Banhammer discovers him on the brink of death. This is when Banhammer finds out for the first time abt what's been really going on with Medkit under the hood, as you can tell it's pretty traumatizing for both parties.

Medkit has a bit of hallucinations in the beginning of the wanted arc, and as Banhammer falls in love with him Medkit starts using him. Over time however Banhammer's genuine affection and care strikes a cord with Medkit and yes he slowly gets better!

When Banhammer joins him on his criminal crusade they team up to bust Church of the true eye, but in order to do that they need more information, a plan to infiltrate, and most importantly be real quiet abt the entire situation because of Ban's status. Medkit is convicned there are eye spies all around Inpherno and as such they need to use unconventional methods to travel all the way to Lost Temple and find the main base where all the higher ups are (Medkit was always restricted to warehouses and smaller offices)

They commit ultrakill doom eternal on they asses and Banhammer goes: mom but I love him 🥀🥀 and the SFOTH agree to let the unstable murderous artifical demigod live with the other extremely brash and violent natural demigod who can sort of keep him in reins, while the other does the same and makes Banhammer more empathetic towards mortals who he so calleously mocked before and disrespected. They both learn something valuable from eachother. Atp Medkit is almost 50 years old. Y am I mentioning this since he can't age anyways? Idk for timetables sake.

Medkit is then allowed to make himself public again. He reunites with Sword, but is forced to keep his job secret, he operates under an acronym in his other proffesional life. Medkit becomes pretty famous and is credited for the mysterious great leaps in medicine in recent years, he's invited to talk shows and interviews, all of that ofc in his black death doctor mask, he walks in that in the upper levels of Banland too.

🔨⚕️ Fun trivia

Medkit often pays magazines to write articles insulting his strength compared to his husband so he has an easier time dealing with escapees who make escape plans thinking he's stupid.

Medkit is the brains, Banhammer is the brawns.

Once during spin the bottle everyone tried to guess his job and he was guessed to be a stripper, assassin or government agent. He's a bit of all of them.

Since he has revolutionized Banland's security systems and added a bazillion cameras, Banland has become impenetrable and 99.9% inescapable.

Banhammer can view footage real-time from any of those cameras anytime he wants with the visor Medkit built for him.

Medkit is quite sadistic to terrible people imprisoned in the deepest parts of Banland, and due to them having a life sentence word never gets out how downright freaky and crazy he is.

In the upper banlands word is that those who saw his face never see the light of day again.

As far as the public knows he's very calm, stoic and professional in his work.

Banhammer and Medkit have very different ways of capturing criminals, contrary to popular belief Medkit is more brutal because he straight up murders you and then you wake up in a cell. which is why Medkit is mostly relegated to managing and running the prison while Banhammer does off field missions. It's bad for PR!

Medkit uses hologram tech to change his horns when he needs it.

[bleue-flora]

Do u think staged duo could revive themselves? It's something i just thought about while reading a fic

Hmm realistically, no. Why else would Dream give Punz the book if he can bring himself back on his own. Furthermore, why get tortured under the threat of death if you can come back anyways. Sure we could say that’s before experimenting but I find it hard to believe that isn’t one of the rules. Remember when Sapnap got the Death Book and there were rules for it, well I think this was probably one of the rules for the Revival Book along with not being about to revive animals. Now whether it says that in the book or they found out through testing is anyone’s guess. But yeah, I mean if Dream could bring himself back why doesn’t he? Instead he waits in limbo for hours until Punz revives him.

I think that perhaps they tested it and even if we are going with the theory that they didn’t kill eachother in countless experiments, then I kinda imagine this would be the experiment they did run that gave them both experiences in limbo. Or at least is one thought I have. I think if Dream could, he wouldn’t be scared and upset by death like we see him in the staged finale, being tortured in prison, the finale… the stakes would be less and the betrayal would sting less if the consequences weren’t as dire, instead even after prison when Punz has the book, we see Dream vent his hurt and bitterness:

“I have a lot to say to you… I—I think—I—I’ve got questions for you as well. So, when I'm sitting there in the prison—my new home and I'm researching things, and I'm studying, and—and testing, and you just sneak in—in the middle of the night. I hadn't bothered you for Months… for MONTHS. But I'm the bad guy. Why'd you do it? Why—why'd you involve yourself again? I—I was—at this point, I was—I was so focused on Quackity, and everything that he was doing, and Las Nevadas and getting revenge. I was—I was focused on Awesamdude, and beating him. And I—I you were—you were the last person on my mind. I was focused on Wilbur, for burning the discs. I was focused on everybody except for you, and then you were like—‘Hey, I want attention. I'm gonna come and break into your house in the middle of the night and—and kill you’—and you know, I'd be dead right now, if it wasn't for Punz… I'd be dead. You would have killed me! You're fine with that? You're so—you're so—you're—you're so cold-blooded, you're fine with breaking in and—and killing me in my own home, for no reason after—after I've already been for months leaving you alone? Yeah, and you also you were fine with dooming the rest of the server. You didn't know Punz had the Revival Book. You were fine with death being permanent? That means that everybody on the server—everyone dies eventually. That means that you were fine with dooming the entire server to all dying, essentially. You—you were fine with that? You were—you were fine—you were saying ‘yeah, it's fine. Everyone can die’… because without the Revival Book, death is permanent. So, you're—you're like—‘Yeah, that's fine, let's sacrifice the best thing that—” [8:23]

He pretty much says it right here. Note how he highlights that without Punz this would have been the end for him and no matter what he says later, I think this is one of his most vulnerable moments in this conversation as Dream expresses his indignation and highlights the cold-blooded nature of the “heroes.” …

So if we are to believe anything he says, I’d say this statement filled with such deep emotion, is one we can and it very much implies that he could not bring himself back…

[caldera1000-7]

Not a big post this time maybe a draft-post and pic/info dump before a continuation/long talk about it. But anyways:

We all should know Atsushi's motivations which stem from his past/hallucinations of the people who have impacted his life and haunt him somewhat. As his character got over it it changed from the Orphanage Headmaster to sometimes Akutagawa to Dazai. But most importantly I was focused on this hallucination (the guy in his mind which is technically created by himself so its kind of his own thoughts.)

"It all comes down to imagination. Every bit of it." "Your hypocritical goodwill, your childish imagination... You cannot understand anyone else. And this, you doom them."

And it was quite true, he has always been thinking of himself or "saving others" in order to keep his existence having meaning or relevance. His "saving others" is giving him not just a purpose or meaning but its also a mindset of "if I don't save them, then am I really allowed to live?" sounds...familiar. "If I don't defeat you, if I don't become stronger...I'll just go back to being something Dazai-san discarded." Yep. The 2 sides of the same coin. The Yin-Yang duo my favorite characters. Ahem, moving on. This was true because Atsushi as we have seen has been shown to be empathetic at times but mainly his drive when saving those people were selfish or stems from a place of if he doesn't then he is worthless. Now I know we all probably know this and how its similar to Ryuu's killing etc. etc. But Atsushi projecting his past self onto those he saves, also kind of shows how little he would come to understand them, and mainly just understanding they are in need of help like he was. The scene with Lucy when he threatened to let her and everyone else stay trapped in her room forever. The scene with Kyouka where he jumped out with her and the bomb. This selflessness has always been from a place of selfishness or at least thats what it seems like. His understanding of others...Well he seems to make quite a few assumptions mainly to Akutagawa, but we see how their views and respects for eachother change with time and learning.

The funniest part which I will still get to when I feel like writing a lot more...is the rashomon effect being used on Akutagawa as a character... Everyone seems to just have this "views" of him, thinking he has enough, that he is enough, that he IS strong, that he HAS status... when he thinks he doesnt have enough because of Dazai not acknowledging it and ever since Dazai said that Atsushi is better. People always seem to have this ideas about Akutagawa, these assumptions too, even with that scene with Margaret but I'll get there another day. Right now, Atsushi falls into those views of Akutagawa, even saying that he IS better than Akutagawa, assuming that he fights just to make others fear him. Its all "meaningless" (says the boy who fights an endless battle of self worth and saving others which essentially will end up the same as a life of killing others because both will make you fight endlessly to feel worthy of living - oh! Does that sound familiar? Remember Odasaku's words to Dazai... If they're both the same, at least saving people would make it a bit more beautiful isn't it?) Atsushi here is also deciding from himself that this may be meaningless, just deciding for someone else, truth or not, shows how little he bothers to understand others too. Akutagawa on the other hand could be on the assumptions side too though he is more envious on the fact Atsushi has all he has wanted and still dwells on the past. But after this interactions in the fight with Ivan and many after that... Akutagawa always tried understanding him more, and even during this scene before fighting Fritzgerald Akutagawa said he understood atsushi and it disgusted him. Akutagawa is a character of constant questions. Its always "Why me?" or "Why him?" or "Why do you fight?" always wondering and wanting to understand before he can decide. This was just a funny detail that contrasts their characters too in which Atsushi just hops to what he thinks and goes along with it if it saves people or himself. I really like them both. (Not as shipping, but in canon.)

[tragic-ships-tournament]

Tragic Ships Tournament Round 1

Propaganda under the cut!

Pearlrose:

"Pearl was made for Rose, made to serve her She was her life's entire purpose, her whole world She was all she knew, and all that mattered

Pearl shows Rose the earth, and gives her first true moment of freedom, unknowingly being the drop that spilled the glass for Rose's ego restructuring, she was an essential part on why she changed, Steven and Sapphire say so themselves "You swept her off her feet, you took her on a whirlwind tour on earth and then she wanted to live here with you forever"

They start leading a revolution together, and then… they fuse! The most intimate state between gems Rose is quite literally starry eyed The official artbook's timeline says "Pearl and Rose start fusing. A lot." Rebecca said herself "Rose calls Pearl 'my Pearl', but that's not something people in homeworld do, they only say 'my' to their superiors (my diamond)" so it's clear how much she cares about her

War starts They see their allies dying around them Pearl needs to pretend to kill Rose, actually putting her sword through her chest It only makes things worse Pearl has to keep this secret forever, on top if Rose's identity But it's ok, because Rose is still there

Rose dates a lot of humans, but it's ok, because it's never serious… until it is Greg shows Rose the beauty of change and love to it's full extent, and she decides to give up her life to create a human, a being so intrinsically tied to change In the blink of an eye, Pearl would lose the love of her life, her reason to live, her whole world Centuries of devotion in which she could not give Rose what she truly needed and wanted, because of her programming and the way homeworld worked She also needs to take care of Rose's child, something she doesn't understand

The most tragic part about it is, even if they loved eachother, for all those things, it could never work Pearl was too obsessed with the idea of Rose, and as long as Rose was there, Pearl could never truly understand what made Rose love humanity, and therefore could never truly understand Rose, unless she was gone

Your honor, they're interesting BECAUSE they are tragic and doomed and, despite Pearl being made for Rose, they were never made for eachother"

Cherik:

"Charles is Erik's first friend, they are on opposite sides and actually fight eachother but they are still friends who sit down and play chess. Even when Erik is in the Pentagon prison for killing JFK. Charles spends a decade high because he feels betrayed by Erik doing that. Erik paralyses him and leaves him stranded on a beach. Despite being on opposite sides, Erik won't let his people insult Charles. Erik grieves when Charles dies, he sits and goes over their old chess games alone in a park. Erik was grateful the apocalypse had them spending time together again."

[pezpenser205]

being a woman does not inherently doom you to suffering btw. womanhood is not suffering. womanhood and suffering are completely divorced from eachother. if your womanhood is really that tied into the concept of suffering then maybe youre not a woman. women enjoy being a woman or are neutral on the matter, and are often discouraged by specifically the problems they face from being a woman. if struggle and womanhood is synonymous to you, you either have some debilitating gender essentialism and doomery radfem beliefs to unlearn or youre not a woman and its time to get you on T cause that shits not normal. being seen as a woman should feel "meh" at worst (and you still may be agender if thats the case lol).

[douchebagsdoingclasspectingnow]

explain the aspects.

For me to explain what Aspects are i also need to essentially explain what classes are.

In my insight, a Class basically refers to HOW your personality works and WHAT do you need to learn for you to grow as a person. You can be a Prince, someone who directly avoids their aspect but needs to learn that you shouldn't destroy it to the point where you end up going crazy and betraying your team in the process, or you could be a Knight, someone who protects their aspect in themselves but need to learn that they don't have to keep a mask ALL the time, as it is prejudicial to their own emotional stability.

Aspects on the other hand, deal with WHAT do your personality mainly works with. They're specifically designed to be as open as possible so everyone can work around their personality on it in some way or another. In that sense, while i believe they DO hold a general common idea in all of their motifs, hero titles usually deal with aspects in multiple ways, both literally and metaphorically, simultaneously as well.

Aspects are often EXTREME opposites of eachother, that is, the lack of one means the excess of the other, especially since they always represent completely opposite concepts. Someone that is with a shortage of Breath (Freedom) for example, is also with a lot of Blood (Friendship).

There is no objectively *bad* Aspect. No, not even Doom. Your life doesn't have to be inherently fucked up solely because of the aspect you have. Aspects have multiple interpretations and motifs that you can work with, and that's what makes it fun.

[mountainscouts]

I think Gary shouldn't be just a perfect overachiever gentleman that soothes Stan's depression. I don't dislike it but I also want to see Gary not have everything in his life in order, allow him to get angry, question Mormonism (racism, homophobia), pressure him with familial expectations (don't set bad example for his siblings, must marry a woman, etc), let him cut loose and party. Conversely, Stan isn't 24/7 doom+gloom. He can be stable, proactive and self-reflecting even before dating Gary.

WHEW. OKAY THIS ASK HAS BEEN SITTING IN MY ASK BOX FOR A WHILE NOW BECAUSE ITS JUST SO. SO PERFECT. where do i even begin?

okay, i have such a specific view of gary that is essentially this, seriously. when it comes to stary, people tend to gloss over gary as a character and while i can't really blame them for doing that, considering that gary is just a guy who has in total less than 3 minutes of speaking roles in his only episode, it's something i've noticed. while i wish that more people would explore him as a character with as much depth as stan, i've kinda just accepted that it won't ever be the case. BUT because of that, i've sort of hyper focused on these types of details about gary and built on his character more in that regard, going that exact direction you went in your ask.

gary, to me, is a well-polished & put together mess when he gets older. the church is such a fascinating and important facet of his life, and the fact that his character is so inherently & quintessentially mormon is a very accurate portrayal of a lot of mormons from SLC. with that, any type of interpretation of him that deviates from typical norms and values in the church is actually asking for a lot of character dissection. i understand that a lot of people would rather not, but i WOULD. and HAVE BEEN...

gary to me is gay, and i can't really see him otherwise. he finds this out– or at least has a feeling that he might be at a younger age, so already his sexuality giving him leeway in questioning the church and its beliefs. this starts leading him to be more self-aware of his societal and familial role, juggling his own beliefs, the church's, and by extension his family's. with this baggage, i guess, i'm sure it'll extend beyond that to his sense of self. what does he want to be? what does he want to make of himself? how can he feel so trapped, but by the loving arms of his family? so much to build and unpack here!!

speaking of his family, i truly believe they're ignorant folk, conservative, and traditional (inadvertently confirmed by how many children they have and how they all interact with eachother- even if that's just a joke, it proves my point that the harrisons are a decent portrayal of mormon families yet again). gary, being the middle child and if one wanted to write him as "the special one", makes for these dilemmas even more interesting honestly. from setting a good precedent for his siblings, following the path of his older ones, cramming extra-curricular activities as a means to both please his parents and even distract himself from his issues, to having to attend church meetings— it all piles up, all while his own contradictions are fed more and more at the incessant exposure of daily life.

the reason why he's considered a polished mess is because he's your typical "looks like he has everything under control, actually under insane amounts of stress" character. i firmly believe that the harrisons have no ill-will, but i think the way that they raised their children falls strongly on the line of emotional neglect. their children were never taught any life lessons that'd help actually help them like- you know, regulating emotions. i've mentioned this in a previous post (and also elaborated on gary showing anger specifically) but i personally believe that while gary is a kind, and generous person to his core, there is an incredible amount of repression deep within him— a product of being raised with many, "boys dont cry"s, "love thy neighbor"s, and "forgive and forget"s. kindness specifically is actually an incredibly important aspect to mormonism, as it's a key part of the lifelong and ever present journey to celestial afterlife. but that's the thing: objectively speaking– this is just a way of control.

so when one wants to break free from this way of thinking, to lose this control, to break away from all they've known— their very livelihood— it's not going to come in the form of an overnight epiphany. in gary's case, considering how tight he is with his family versus his budding progressive views and drive to have more free reign over his self, it's going to be one hell of a struggle.

to touch on your point of him not getting everything he wants, i think that's another fundamental reason why he would question his standing in the church as well— depending on What he doesn't get. perhaps he doesn't want to serve his mission, but does so anyways. or maybe he simply had a bad day, but he can't allow himself to get upset, convincing himself that "things could be worse" as a way to make himself feel better, barring himself from healthily expressing his feelings. repeatedly saying "its okay" is going to be his downfall lol

and, i too would love to see him cut loose and party eventually- without a second thought that he'd be disappointing anyone.

okay now for stan. oh yeah that guy— no i'm just kidding, i'm also actually very picky about stan as well. :P most of your points about him align perfectly with mine. i don't like it when people woobify him to a point where his only/a major part of his character is his pessimism and depression, and while they are a part of him, it seems to be a big theme when people talk about stary. i definitely love the whole "i can fix him" thing gary has with him (because of gary's primordial urge to "fix" things and be persistent until he can't anymore) but that's definitely not all that they are!! (also gary's initial thought of "fixing" stan would already be faulty from the get-go anyways- but he will learn)

with stan, i think people tend to make him already pretty "helpless" in general fandom, and while he has shown to be more vulnerable than his peers, hes still pretty resilient. i do think that he would need a little bit of a push when it comes to his mental health, but that's only because he's found a way to cope with these issues- none of which are truly healthy. he's moreso content with being in a stalemate with himself and while he does wish he could do more, it takes a lot out of him to get out his more personal comfort zones.

kinda gives him another reason as to why him and gary are narrative foils, i just realized :P!!

but yeah!! i really loved this ask, and i probably really should indulge more in this aspect of gary >_<. its something i truly think about, and those who are close to me DEFINITELY know this! thank you for the ask and sorry it took so dang long haha. also thank you to those who read this behemoth, genuinely didnt expect to yap this much

[lemon-natalia]

Harrow the Ninth Reaction - Chapter 52

Augustine & Mercy are having a very intense convo about how they just murdered GOD and are dooming themselves, and Gideon 1.0, Gideon 2: Electric Boogaloo, and Ianthe are just … standing there

oh shit and Dominicus is gonna die and become a black hole? i mean given there’s a whole other book not sure where this is gonna go, maybe he was lying to everyone about that as well?

when Ianthe of all people is the one advocating to try and save people out of the goodness of her heart, you know you’re fucked

‘Well, Augustine, there’s something you should know’ could someone please say something in this series that isn’t ridiculously cryptic. also i totally forgot this guy was wearing Gid’s sunglasses the whole time lol

OH WAIT THE BITCH IS BACK. i knew it was too good to be true 

also YIKES poor Mercy, she was not my favourite character but god she did not deserve that

also ah. hm. the above comment did not age well

oh this guys whole persona has just shifted. He’s still got that kinda irreverent jokiness & affability but he’s also evidently very pissed off, a lot less ‘lets have tea’ and more ‘do what i say or get fucked’

'then he looked at us, gave a crooked half smile’ ohhhh he has the same. fucking. crooked smile. that Gideon has in the BARI-star dream what the fuck

and he WAS the one who ordered Gideon-Part-1 to kill Harrow, for fucks sake. at least Harrow had Ortus be nice to her briefly cuz she’s three for three on her other parental figures trying to kill her at some point 

Gideon found out her bio dad is GOD, saw him die, saw him come back to live naked, and now found out he tried to kill her (kinda maybe its complicated) girlfriend. thats just ... so many different levels of traumatising

also i keep forgetting Gideon is literally looking like Harrow for all of this

GIDEON 1.0 ISN’T GIDEON, ITS PYRRHA DVE HIS CAV?!?!? yknow what so much else is going on rn i barely have the capacity to process that

and she was also sleeping with Commander Wake, was everyone just fucking eachother????? and i thought the love quadrangle in the last book was complicated. i’m guessing she shot Wake to stop her from potentially revealing the whole ‘i’m actually alive’ thing to the Emperor then?

also wow there’s a lot of consent issues being raised in the last couple chapters and this one, not just with dios apate major, but also like … you’re having sex with someone while possessing someone else’s body without their knowledge, but also also its the only body you have because they (presumably) killed you to absorb your soul. like what.

the drama and vast existential horror of this scene is only mildly undercut by the fact that the Emperor is having this crazy fight wearing only what is essentially an opalescent bathrobe

also why are there fucking TEETH at the bottom of the River? and Tongues?? and it thinks he’s a Resurrection Beast? i feel like there’s so much more to the River that we haven’t uncovered yet

and Augustine wasn’t wrong with what he said wayy before, the Emperor really did grant him more leniency than he did Mercy, at least he gave him a chance before murdering him

also cmon Ianthe you’re really gonna save that guy, really?

'Hands pressed. We died’ AGAIN?? i mean at least this time there’s a chance for her to come back given she’s done it once before?? also i do not know what to make of her seeing Alecto before she dies at all

[newtxoxo]

even if Tessa lived her and J would’ve never got their happy ending.

Idk why I’m thinking about this so much but Jessa was ALWAYS doomed, there is hardly any timeline where they could be happy. They are the definition of damned if you do and damned if you don’t. Tessa dies brutally in the gala, presumably by J’s hands, we all know this but even if she had lived, would they have been happy? Tessa is of marrying age, and in a few people’s interpretations including my own the galas are supposed to be used to find her a match. No matter how much her or J cared for eachother, neither of them ever had a choice. Drones aren’t even considered second class citizens, they’re essentially , no actually they are slaves they are literally!!! Slaves!!! Drone and human relationships are completely unheard of as well. If their feelings were ever discovered for eachother it’s most likely J would’ve just been instantly disassembled and Tessa would’ve continued to be forced to marry some other suitable guy.

If feelings weren’t discovered, Tessa would still be married off to someone else eventually as well, maybe J would’ve be lucky and still be her personal drone when she went to a different household, or be unlucky and be stuck with the Elliot’s either way she stays miserable. Either be with your love but never be able to be together or be stuck without her and be miserable with her insane parents 😓

Jessa is always doomed AAA

[1awyerup]

{ I know I haven't posted here in ages, which honestly may change soon bc Kris got me back on my Smile For Me brainrot, but I had a thought I wanted to share 👀 }

{I know it should've been super apparent to me right away but, I guess I never really considered the way Jimothan sooo badly wanted Parsley to be Like Him and then his Mama is hitting him with "YOU'RE JUST LIKE YOUR FATHER 🙄" Like you KNOW that gave him such a complex, deep down. Literally doomed by the conflicting parental narratives.}

{And then I got to thinking about how that probably started BEFORE he was an adult, the understanding that his parents essentially wanted him to be two different people whom he was neither of. AND about how throughout his life he was probably picking and choosing things based on which parent's approval he felt most desperate for at that time, or even just which parent he was getting along with better and felt closer to. Maybe even trying his best to find SOME sort of middle ground option where they'd both be happy, and stop arguing with eachother about it. Essentially fighting over him, as per usual, when they disagreed with the way the other was trying to steer him. I said before that his parents tried their best to keep their fighting to themselves and not let him see it as a kid at least, but obviously you know he did see and hear it anyway. IDKKK I'm rambling now but these thoughts HURT MEEEE-- }

[sagegreenfrogs]

can you explain the cube hostage theory you talked about in your post about aaravos?

I haven’t heard of it before

ok! so CHET (cube hostage exchange theory) is a theory in the tdp fandom that can essentially be boiled down to 2 things!

(slight spoilers be ahead)

"The Key Of Aaravos" (the cube with elemental runes on it) is important to aaravos somehow, and is something he wants back.

Rayllum are mutually going to save & doom eachother

The foundation of the theory is that aaravos will somehow take rayla (or ezran, but most likely rayla) hostage, and demand that callum brings him the cube in exchange for her.

this idea of a hostage exchange is evidenced by 5x08 when finnegrin takes rayla captive and demands that callum give him the ingredients required for a spell in exchange for her.

it's also backed up by rayllum's whole "i would do anything for you"/"if you have to chose between me and the greater good"/"i need you to kill me" shebang of being helplessly devoted to eachother, callum doing dark magic for rayla, while rayla gives up her own wants and needs for callum, etc.

we clearly see that the cube has some significance, given that it is literally named the key of aaravos. also, no matter where you are in the world, it always rolls towards the sea of the castout. (Callum's spell book, 6x02) in 6x09, it also appears in a flashback with aaravos.

it's more complex than that, but if you want to learn about CHET, go to @raayllum ! they've been spearheading the theory for a while now, and know the most about it.

[thewistlingbadger]

William turner was never a pirate, and he never will be a pirate. William joins jack Sparrow in the first movie to free Elizabeth. William joins jack Sparrow in the second two movies to free his father. He has never loved the seas, the treasure, the women, the freedom, whatever it is that makes someone a pirate. William values his honor and his dearest connections above all else. He's not a pirate. The fact that the narrative dooms him to be on the sea for the rest of eternity is devastating. It's even MORE tragic when you consider Elizabeth. Elizabeth has duality to her. She's always been a rich, posh woman but in my opinion it was always clear that she wanted more to her life. Adventure that could not be found in upper class British society. Repeatedly, we see her act like a pirate and enjoy it! She loves the seas, the thrill- she'll never admit it but it's so obvious. So the fact that it's WILL, who has never wanted to be a pirate, that's cursed to the sea and not Elizabeth...man it hurts (I'm not saying she should have been the captain of the Dutchman). They're cursed to always be apart, even when they love eachother so much. It hurts. It hurts so much it makes you question the curse. Like, ok. Will has to stay on the Dutchman and can't port. Why can't Elizabeth be a part of his crew? We can't she sail on a separate ship and tag along with will? Why doesn't Elizabeth become a pirate? How does she stay away from the sea entirely throughout the course of her husband's curse? She's canonically THE PIRATE KING. I understand that being a pirate may have never been what she wanted, but would she seriously not become one JUST to be with her husband. I don't understand why. Instead the characters are forced to be unhappy. William is forced to miss out on the ENTIRETY of his son's life. Elizabeth is forced to be single mother who's married but essentially has no husband.

[room-of-lies]

i love fluffy naoreko but theyre so interesting when considered realistically and in-death game... they get like what, one night to spend together before Reko gets swapped out? imagine falling in love over the course of a single night only to essentially lose the version you fell for the day after

and going down this line of thinking, the romance/intense feelings the two have abt each other never being... “right”... they’re in a game of life or death. These feelings will only complicate things, and how can they even rely that these feelings aren’t just spurred on by mutual desperation? in the grand scheme of things they haven’t known each other long at all... people have died. But... can’t they indulge for just a little? maybe a lot of it is brought on from the fear of losing the other, holding on while they still can but. In a way they both doom themselves in doing so.

just. a whole cycle of reko being unable to pull away from that comfort and nao seeking it even more, finding it in reko. reko insisting they're both towing a line, questioning if this is just clouded judgement from fearing for their very lives, Reko knowing shes going to get too attached... she knows from experience, it only leads to heartache, loving someone only for them to suddenly leave. both realize its misguided but . for the time being they need eachother, even if its for the sake of short-term respite that will only come crashing down when either dies

i <3 u whirlwind deathgame situationship

[dragon-communion]

Alright HEAR ME OUT. Crack ship incoming.

Elden Ring revolves around the very Arthurian motif of a beautiful princess (gender neutral) requiring a knight to murder everything between her and her goals. The Empyrean is the White Queen, the stationary and nurturing feminine counterpart to the Elden Lord as Red King, mobile and proactive.

I mean the queen also kills things with hammers, so don't take that divine feminine thing the wrong way, but I digress.

St. Trina qualifies as a damsel in distress, both because she's been mysteriously missing for a few hundred years and also the additional information we get in the DLC. She is BLEEDING and asks us to KILL for her. Textbook Arthurian princess. So who can we get to save her?

While Melina is potentially another Empyrean, what's more relevant to my interests is her status as a wandering pilgrim or perhaps an outright rōnin. She is burned and bodiless and can likely interact with the physical world only in limited ways, but nonetheless she is on a Quest, she does a little Stabbing, and she is arguably essential to Saving The World. We might technically be taking her on an escort mission, but she's far from helpless. She's just got memory issues.

Most relevantly: not only does she have memory issues, but she's a bodiless spirit. Miquella/Trina has some skill with memory manipulation, particularly if we take the Tonic of Forgetfulness as Miquella's work, and in addition to the Land of Shadow being a spirit-world it is arguable that Trina did most of her active participation in world events through dreams. Singing to the merchants, telling the albinaurics about the Haligtree, etc. People seek Trina in their dreams, which is a distinctly spiritual form of quest.

I think it is possible that both Trina and Melina have had dealings with the Fell God, too. Dreams are symbolically associated with mist, swamps, and water lilies, so it is intriguing and alarming that St. Trina's Torch uses fire of all things, and depicts her with a cyclops eye. Melina's connection to fire is obvious and repeated multiple times, though I do wonder if the first time she burned was blackflame.

Melina also has her connection to Destined Death, and if her eye does indeed mean she's the Gloam-Eyed Queen, that means she's got some sort of connection to night and sleep. Rogier compares death to falling into a sleep he'll never wake from, and to my understanding the DLC continues that metaphor. Sleep is oblivion, and also yet another form of death, linking Trina's affinity to the other various death-curses of Marika's children.

All of this is to say that Melina definitely has the means to find and assist Trina. As for motive? Melina wants the Erdtree to burn, and from the ashes something new to bloom. Trina is well aware that godhood is a living hell, and also wants the world to live in peace.

I am not sure if Melina would be at all opposed or even care about Miquella's goals. A new god is a new god, and the old order will burn the same. But I think Trina could genuinely understand her on a personal level, and have real compassion that other characters like Ranni and Marika fundamentally lack.

Melina does not want to be saved. Trina does not ask to be saved, either. But I think they would be better for knowing eachother, and that's important, even if they're both doomed.